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Survivors Retrace a Scene of Horror at Charlie Hebdo Survivors Retrace a Scene of Horror at Charlie Hebdo
(about 3 hours later)
PARIS — Stéphane Charbonnier was perched, as was his habit every Wednesday morning, at a U-shaped wooden table on the second floor of his light-filled Parisian offices at the French satirical newspaper he headed, Charlie Hebdo, an array of papers spread before him. PARIS — Stéphane Charbonnier was perched, as was his habit every Wednesday morning, at a U-shaped wooden table on the second floor of the light-filled Parisian offices of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical newspaper he headed. An array of papers was spread before him.
It was around 11:30, and about a dozen journalists, including the paper’s top cartoonists, had joined him for their regular weekly meeting to pore over the articles that would appear in the next issue. Their day had already been productive: Less than two hours earlier, the editors published on Twitter their latest provocative cartoon, a sketch of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, wishing his audience a Happy New Year, and “above all, good health!” It was about 11:30, and a dozen or so journalists, including the paper’s top cartoonists, had joined him for their regular weekly meeting to pore over the articles that would appear in the next issue. Their day had already been productive: Less than two hours earlier, the editors published their latest provocative cartoon on Twitter, a sketch of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State, wishing his audience a happy New Year, and “above all, good health!”
Unbeknown to them, a scene of terror was unfolding at their doorstep — one that would grip the world’s attention and set off new fears across Europe about a rising clash of civilizations, between radical Islamists and the West. They did not know a scene of terror was unfolding at their doorstep, one that would grip the world’s attention and raise new fears across Europe about a clash of civilizations, between radical Islam and the West.
Corinne Rey, a cartoonist who goes by the pen name Coco, had just picked up her young daughter from day care and was tapping in a security code to enter the building when two men in black commando garb, armed with AK-47 automatic machine guns, grabbed her and brutally forced her to open the door. Corinne Rey, a cartoonist who goes by the pen name Coco, had just picked up her young daughter from day care. She was tapping in a security code to enter the building, when two men in black commando garb, armed with AK-47 assault rifles, grabbed her and brutally forced her to open the door.
“They wanted to get in and go up,” she later told the French magazine L’Humanité.“They wanted to get in and go up,” she later told the French magazine L’Humanité.
Pushed inside, Ms. Rey said she took refuge under a desk as the men entered the lobby and went to the welcome desk, where a security guard who had worked on the premises for 15 years, Frédéric Boisseau, was sitting. Pushed inside, Ms. Rey took refuge as the gunmen crossed the lobby to the welcome desk, where Frédéric Boisseau, a security guard at the building for 15 years, was sitting.
According to a witness quoted in the French news media, the attackers opened fire, killing Mr. Boisseau and spraying the lobby with so much gunfire that some people thought a scaffold was falling. According to a witness quoted in the French news media, the attackers opened fire, killing Mr. Boisseau and spraying the areawith so much gunfire that some people thought a scaffold was falling.
Moments later, according to witnesses, the men raced up the stairs, their machine guns at the ready, and headed to the editorial room. The men raced upstairs, guns at the ready, and searched out the editorial room, the witnesses said.
“Where is Charb? Where is Charb?” they shouted, using a widely known nickname for Mr. Charbonnier. Spotting their target, a trim, bespectacled man, the men aimed and fired.“Where is Charb? Where is Charb?” they shouted, using a widely known nickname for Mr. Charbonnier. Spotting their target, a trim, bespectacled man, the men aimed and fired.
Then, witnesses said, they killed the newspaper’s chief cartoonists where they sat, frozen, before massacring nearly everyone else in the room in a hail of fire. Then they killed the newspaper’s stunned chief cartoonists where they sat frozen, before massacring nearly everyone else in the room in a hail of gunfire.
“It lasted about five minutes,” said Ms. Rey, shaken and afraid. “They spoke perfect French and claimed to be from Al Qaeda.” “It lasted about five minutes,” Ms. Rey said, shaken and afraid. “They spoke perfect French, and claimed to be from Al Qaeda.”
Chérif Kouachi, 32, who is suspected in the attack and is still at large, had been detained in 2005 as he prepared to leave France for Syria to train to fight the Americans in retaliation for United States’ involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Sigolène Vinson, a freelance journalist who had come in that morning to take part in the meeting, said that when the shooting started, she thought she would be killed.
Recently, however, he lived with another man suspected of being one of the gunmen, his brother Said, 34, in the home of a convert to Islam in the 19th Arrondissement of Paris, where he occasionally worked small jobs, including as a pizza delivery man and as a shop assistant. Ms. Vinson said in an interview that she dropped to the floor and crawled down the hall to hide behind a partition, but one of the gunmen spotted her and grabbed her by the arm, pointing his gun at her head. Instead of pulling the trigger, though, he told her she would not be killed because she was a woman.
It was not immediately known whether either suspect had ever made it outside France to join jihadist networks. What is clear, however, was that both suspects were well trained in the use of commando tactics and firearms, and that they were prepared for their mission of bringing down the leadership of Charlie Hebdo. “Don’t be afraid, calm down, I won’t kill you,” the gunman told her in a steady voice, with a calm look in his eyes, she recalled. “You are a woman. But think about what you’re doing. It’s not right.”
Most of all, they were determined to kill Mr. Charbonnier, who had long been on a Qaeda list of “most wanted” Westerners for publishing cartoons that had long provoked radical Muslims with irreverent representations of the Prophet Muhammad. Then he turned to his partner, who was still shooting, and shouted, “We don’t shoot women! We don’t shoot women! We don’t shoot women!”
Sigolène Vinson, a freelancer who had decided to come in that morning to take part in the meeting, thought she would be killed when one of the men approached her. The French authorities have identified two brothers as the gunmen. The younger, Chérif Kouachi, 32, has been known to the French authorities as a possible terrorist for a decade.
Instead, she told French news media, the man said, “I’m not going to kill you because you’re a woman, we don’t kill women, but you must convert to Islam, read the Quran and cover yourself,” she recalled. He was detained in 2005 as he prepared to leave France for Syria, where he hoped to be trained to fight Americans. He has been living recently with the second suspect, his older brother Said, 34, in the home of a convert to Islam, and has worked occasionally as a pizza delivery man or a shop assistant.
“After,” she added, he left shouting, “Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar!” It was not immediately known whether either suspect ever managed to leave France to join jihadist networks. But both men appeared to have gotten training in the use of commando tactics and firearms, and were prepared for their mission of killing the leadership of Charlie Hebdo.
Most of all, they were determined to kill Mr. Charbonnier, who was on a Qaeda list of “most wanted” Westerners for publishing cartoons that provoked radical Muslims with irreverent representations of the Prophet Muhammad.
The two gunmen appeared on the Rue Nicolas-Appert, a Paris street near the newspaper’s offices, in a black Citroën C3 sedan about 11:20 a.m. Wednesday, and began looking for Charlie Hebdo’s offices.
At first, the men went to the wrong address, an annex next door, and demanded to know if it was the main office. After frightened witnesses there waved them off, they turned instead to the door where Ms. Rey was typing in the entry code.
At the same moment, a journalist for Premières Lignes Télévision, which produces investigative documentaries and has offices adjacent to Charlie Hebdo’s, went downstairs to smoke a cigarette. He saw the men entering the building, demanding to know where Charlie Hebdo’s offices were.
According to Julien Beaupé, a postproduction director who works with Premières Lignes, his colleague ran upstairs to give warning, and the staff quickly locked doors and hid under desks while they frantically called the police and emergency services.
Through the building’s walls, Mr. Beaupé said in an interview, he heard the killers running up to the third floor, and then back down to the second, where Charlie Hebdo was located.
“We heard them shouting loudly Allahu akbar, we’ll avenge the prophet,” Mr. Beaupé recalled. “After that, we started to hear a huge amount of rapid gunfire.”
When an ambulance arrived, medics asked Mr. Beaupé and a few colleagues to help at the scene.
In the entry hall, he said, “it was a vision of horror — it was a total blood bath,” he said. “There were so many bodies on the ground, and a number of extremely frightened people hidden under tables who weren’t moving.”
The horror deepened as he and the medics made their way to the editorial room.
“We tried to look away, because it was just a sea of blood,” Mr. Beaupé said. “All the bodies were on the ground, there was gore on the tables, windows had been shot out and there was glass everywhere.”
The killing did not end there. When the two attackers left the building, again shouting “Allahu akbar” or God is great, they headed toward their waiting getaway car and exchanged gunfire with police officers who had begun to converge on the area.
That scene was captured in a video taken by one of Mr. Beaupé's colleagues, Martin Boudot, who had gone to the roof of the building and turned on his camera.
A short time later, a lone police officer on the scene was struck by one of the gunmen’s bullets and fell to the sidewalk, holding his hands up for mercy. Instead, one of the gunmen walked calmly toward him and shot him in the head.
The two men then retreated toward their waiting car. “We have avenged the Prophet Mohamed!” they shouted. “We have killed Charlie Hebdo!”