Gunmen stormed the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo Wednesday, killing 12 people.
The publication has drawn criticism in recent years for featuring cartoons mocking political and religious figures, including the Prophet Muhammad.
Eight journalists, an office guest and three police officers were killed in the attack, according to French officials. While the names of all of the victims have not been released here’s a look at some of the victims that have been identified.
Stéphane Charbonnier
Charbonnier, 47, who wrote under the name Charb, was the editor-in-chief of Charlie Hebdo.
He was a staunch defender of the magazine’s cartoons depicting Muhammad. In 2011 their offices were destroyed by a firebomb after Charlie Hebdo proposed inviting the Prophet Muhammad to be a guest editor. In 2012, the magazine again courted controversy when it published caricatures of Muhammad.
“Mohammed isn’t sacred to me,” Charbonnier told the Associated Press in 2012. “I don’t blame Muslims for not laughing at our drawings. I live under French law. I don’t live under Quranic law.”
Charbonnier who was then in police protection said in an interview with Le Monde that he didn’t fear retaliation.
“I have no kids, no wife, no car, no credit. This may be a bit pompous what I’m saying, but I prefer to die standing than live on my knees,” he said.
Georges Wolinski
Wolinski, 80, was a veteran cartoonist with Charlie Hebdo. He had also collaborated with a number of other French publications including L’Humanité, Libération, and Le Nouvel Observateur.
Born in Tunisia, he was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 2005.
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Jean Cabut
Jean Cabut, who went by the pen name Cabu, worked as a cartoonist for Charlie Hebdo among others including Le Monde.
According to the Telegraph, Cabut drew one of Charlie Hebdo’s most controversial cover images of the Prophet Muhammad. The cartoon showed Muhammad saying, “It’s hard to be loved by idiots,” under the caption “Mohammed overwhelmed by fundamentalists.”
Cabut was the father of Mano Solo a singer and compoer who died in 2010 at the age of 46.
Bernard Maris
Maris was a French economist and journalist who wrote a weekly column for Charlie Hebdo called “Uncle Bernard.”
He served as a member of the General Council of the Bank of France, NBC News reported.
“This is a barbaric attack on the freedom of the press,” Bank of France governor Christian Noyer said in a statement. “Bernard Maris was a cultured, kind and very tolerant man. He will be much missed.”
Bernard Verlhac
Verlhac, 57, drew under the name Tignous. He published his first works in 1980. His earliest cartoons appeared in L’idiot international, La grosse Bertha and L’événement du jeudi.
He was a member of a group of artists called Cartoonists for Peace and his work can be viewed on the group’s website.
According to USA Today, he along with Georges Wolinski and Cabu attended the Cannes Film Festival with magazine staff members for a documentary about death threats targeting Charlie Hebdo.
Ahmed Merabet
Merabet was the son of immigrants from mainly Muslim North Africa, who was seen shot dead on the sidewalk by one of the assailants as they started their getaway. Video taken by an onlooker that surfaced on the Internet after the attack appeared to show a wounded Merabet on the pavement, raising a hand as though appealing for mercy before he was fatally shot in the head by one of the three gunmen.
As details of his death spread, the phrase “Je Suis Ahmed” (I Am Ahmed) started trending on Twitter. That echoed the campaign of support for the satirical newspaper that spread widely after the attack, using the slogan “Je Suis Charlie.”
French news reports gave varying ages for Merabet, though the police union to which he belonged said he was in his 30s.
Franck Brinsolaro
Brinsolaro, 49, was a married police veteran who served on the bodyguard detail for Charbonnier.
A police union official said Charbonnier would sometimes invite Brinsolaro for meals at the famed Closerie des Lilas restaurant in southern Paris.
Brinsolaro was married to the editor of a weekly newspaper in northern France, and the couple had a 1-year-old daughter, according to French media.
Also killed:
Philippe Honoré, 73, cartoonist
Michel Renaud, 68, guest editor
Mustapha Ourad, proofreader
Two other victims
*With files from the Associated Press
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