Paris shootings: Charlie Hebdo cartoonist tells of moment gunmen stormed magazine offices

 
Survivor: Cartoonist Corinne 'Coco' Rey
Robin de Peyer7 January 2015

A cartoonist who survived the massacre at a French satirical magazine has told of the moment she was forced to let Islamist terrorists into the building at gunpoint.

Corinne Rey, known as 'Coco', was forced to seek refuge under her desk during the bloody attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

The two hooded attackers, who were reportedly wielding a grenade launcher as well as Kalashnikov assault rifles, slaughtered 12 people during the raid.

The dead include 10 staff at the magazine, including artists Charb, Cabu, Wolinski and Tignou.

Ms Rey told French newspaper l'Humanité how the gunmen - who claimed they were from al-Qaeda - demanded to be let into the building as she was picking up her daughter.

"I had gone to pick up my daughter at daycare," she said.

"When I arrived in front of the door of the building of the paper, two men hooded and armed brutally threatened us.

Victims: L-R: Stephane Charbonnier, Jean Cabu, and George Wolinski

"They wanted to come in, go up. I pressed in the code. They shot on Wolinski, Cabu... it lasted five minutes.

"I had hidden under my desk. They spoke French perfectly; they said they we're al-Qaeda."

Another witness told how he was forced to flee to a rooftop after seeing hooded gunmen enter the building.

Gunmen: the masked men who shot dead 12 victims

Another witness, Benoit Bringer, told the France Info television station: "We heard shouting in the street. We saw hooded men carrying Kalashnikovs enter the building. We called the police. After a few minutes we heard heavy firing, a lot of firing. We went upstairs onto the roof.

"After about 10 minutes we saw two armed men come out into the street. Three policemen arrived on bikes but had to leave because the men were armed. There was a lot more shouting in the street, a lot more gunshots. The attackers took off in a car."

An injured man is taken away from the scene on a stretcher

Gilles Boulanger, who works in the same building as the magazine, told the BBC: "A neighbour called to warn me that there were armed men in the building and that we had to shut all the doors.

"And several minutes later there were several shots heard in the building from automatic weapons firing in all directions.

"So then we looked out of the window and saw the shooting was on Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, with the police. It was really upsetting. You'd think it was a war zone."

The attack on the weekly magazine's offices left five people critically injured as well as the 12 dead. Two police officers were among those who lost their lives in the attack.

Police and ambulances at the magazine's HQ in Paris

The magazine is well-known for printing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, and was firebombed in 2011 after printing a cartoon of the Prophet.

Today's attack came as the magazine published a satirical tweet showing a cartoon of the Islamic State militant group leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

French TV channel Europe 1 reported witnesses saying the men who carried out today's attack shouted out “Allah Akbar” and “The Prophet has been avenged”.

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