The victims were killed when hooded gunmen attacked the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Stephanie Charbonnier , also known as 'Charb' was the title's director. He had received death threats in the past over the cartoons published by the magazine and was given police protection.
Three well-know cartoonists Jean Cabut aka Cabu, Bernard Verlhac aka Tignous and Georges Wolinski were also killedtogether with the economist and journalist Bernard Maris.The gunmen also shot dead contributor and Elsa Cayat, cartoonist Philippe Honoré, editor Mustapha Ourrad, protection officer Franck Brinsolaro and office Fréderic Boisseau.
Media reports said that several other people were wounded and remained in critical condition.