Paris shootings: Darkness on City of Light

Michel Renaud co-founder of Carnet de Voyage. Photo / FRANCE 3 AUVERGNE

It was the day the Eiffel Tower turned off its lights. Paris mourned 12 victims and burned with defiance. And the Muslim cop shot by Islamic extremists became the new focus of the solidarity campaign.

Stephane Charbonnier, known as Charb, was reportedly the main target of the attack as the magazine's editor and chief cartoonist.

Charb, 47, was a longtime supporter of the Parti Communiste, and later, the left-wing Front de Gauche. In an interview with Le Monde after the Charlie offices were firebombed in late 2011 he said: "What I'm about to say might be a bit pompous, but I'd prefer to die standing than live on my knees."

Jean Cabut, a cartoonist known as Cabu, 76, had his first work published at the age of 16.

He moved to Paris to pursue his artistic studies at the Ecole Estienne, and later served in the military in Algeria. Michel Polac wrote of him in 2008: "Cabu draws like others breathe."

Georges Wolinski, 80, had contributed to Hara-Kiri magazine, a forerunner to Charlie Hebdo, in the 1960s.

Bernard Verlhac, a cartoonist known as Tignous, 57, was also a regular contributor and member of Cartoonists for Peace.

Commenting on his work in 2011, he said: "A news cartoon is extremely hard to get right, because you have to get everything into a single image. It's the total opposite of a comic book."

Bernard Maris, an economist and writer, wrote a column for Charlie Hebdo under the pseudonym Uncle Bernard.

He wrote for Marianne, Le Figaro Magazine, Le Monde and L'Obs and was a regular on France Inter.

Philippe Honore, 73, was the artist who drew the last cartoon sent out in a tweet by the magazine, the Telegraph reports.

Michel Renaud (main picture) was one of two founders of the biennial Carnet de Voyage in Clermont-Ferrand. France Bleu radio network in Auvergne has reported Mr Renaud had gone to visit Charlie Hebdo's offices with another member of his organisation, Gerard Gaillard, who survived the gunfire.

Elsa Cayat, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, was the only woman killed in the massacre.

She wrote a twice-monthly column for Charlie Hebdo and published essays on relations between men and women and sexuality.

Frederic Boisseau had worked for French catering and site facilities company Sodexo for 15 years. He was reportedly a married 42-year-old father-of two.

Mustapha Ourrad was a copy-editor of Algerian descent for Charlie Hebdo.

Le Monde reports that he moved to France aged 20 and was about to receive French citizenship.

Ahmed Merabet was one of the two police officers killed by gunmen.

He was reportedly patrolling the area at the time and is believed to be Muslim.

Franck Brinsolaro was the second police officer to be killed in the attack. He was attached to the Service de Protection des Hautes Personnalites and was tasked with Charb's personal protection. He is survived by his wife Ingrid Brinsolaro, the editor in chief of the Normandy weekly newspaper L'Eveil Normand. "The free press are in mourning; L'Eveil Normand is in mourning," the newspaper said in a statement on its website. "We are crushed, and very sad. Our thoughts are with this family, which is so close to us, and has been destroyed by this horror."

- Independent