A massacre in Paris is the result of a massive shooting that took place at a newspaper headquarters in Paris.
Three gunmen dressed up all in black, stormed into the offices of Charlie Hebdo, in Paris, armed with AK47s and rocket propelled grenades. The terrorists barged in yelling, ‘Allahu akbar,’ which translates to “God is great” while also chanting, ”The Prophet has been avenged.” The terrorist reportedly spoke perfect French, but claimed they were associates of the Al Qaeda.
The gunmen were targeting Stephane Charbonnier, the papers editor and cartoonist, who was shot along with a bodyguard that was there to protect him. Charbonnier had received threats prior to the incident, and the bodyguard was placed there to insure his safety, unfortunately they were outnumbered and unprepared.
Along with Charbonnier and his bodyguard, ten other people were killed at the scene and nearby, ten others were injured, which included police officers, journalists, and administrative staff, who were holding a staff meeting at the time of the invasion.
One woman and cartoonist to the paper Corrine Rey, escaped the scene after picking up her daughter from kindergarten and confronted two armed gunmen on her journey. The three men got into a car and then fled the scene.
A huge stakeout and search spread throughout the country, and three suspects in the evening were targeting for having a past history of terrorism and had served some prison time for aiding funnel fighters to Iraq’s insurgency. Two men were apprehended and one was allegedly killed according to news stations. It’s still unclear if these are the gunmen, but the two men will be intensely questioned.
This paper is not new to bomb threats and terrorist attacks. Back in 2011, the offices were firebombed because a controversial cartoon that was released depicting a satirical commentary of Mohammed, the same reason why they were attacked this year.
President Francois Hollande proclaimed the massacre as a, ‘barbaric attack against France and against journalists’ and vowed to hunt down those responsible.” He is clearly out for blood because it is a rare occasion that a President swears to “hunt down” criminals like this. Terrorism is a plague that sweeps in and devastates a country. Civilians have been gathering, and holding pens up into the night to symbolize their freedom of the press.
Paris is currently under high levels of security and alerts at all public facilities, and schools have been shut down until further notice.
Religion is a very sensitive subject to some cultures, and while Paris is free to write or draw whatever they wish because of the freedom of press, but if artists or writers are threatening innocent lives because of terrorist attacks than the moral question remains that even though they can publish whatever they want, should they?
