Survivors Retrace a Scene of Horror at Charlie Hebdo

Paris: Stephane 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.

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 a tweet of 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!"

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. (Terrorists Strike Paris Paper That Lampooned Islam; 12 Are Killed)

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. (Charlie Hebdo Editor Made Provocation His Mission)

"They wanted to get in and go up," she later told the French magazine L'Humanite.

Pushed inside, 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, Frederic Boisseau, was sitting.

According to a witness quoted in the French news media, the attackers opened fire, killing Boisseau and spraying the lobby with so much gunfire that some people thought a scaffold was falling. (World Leaders, Media Groups Condemn 'Barbaric' Paris Attack)

Moments later, according to witnesses, the men raced up the stairs, their machine guns at the ready, and headed to the editorial room.

"Where is Charb? Where is Charb?"  they shouted, using a widely known nickname for Charbonnier. Spotting their target, a trim, bespectacled man, the men aimed and fired. (Cold and Deadly, Paris Gunmen Likely 'Military Trained')

Then, witnesses said, they executed the newspaper's chief cartoonists where they sat, frozen, before massacring nearly everyone else in the room in a hail of fire.

"It lasted about five minutes," said Rey, shaken and afraid. "They spoke perfect French and claimed to be from al-Qaida." (After the Deadliest Terror Attack Ever, France Says 'Not Afraid')

Cherif Kouachi, 32, who is suspected in the attack and still at large, had been detained in 2005 as he prepared to leave France for Syria to train to fight Americans in retaliation for U.S. involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. (Police Hunt Brothers After Paris Attack, Third Man Hands Himself in)

Recently, however, he lived with another suspected gunman, 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. (Seven Detained in Hunt For Suspects in Paris Shooting, Say Sources)

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.

Most of all, they were determined to execute Charbonnier, who had long been on a Qaida list of "most wanted" Westerners for publishing cartoons that had long provoked radical Muslims with irreverent representations of the Prophet Muhammad. (2 Brothers Involved in Paris Attack Located in North France: Reports)

Sigolene 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. (Charlie Hebdo Will Come Out Next Week, Despite Bloodbath)

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. (Two Brothers Suspected in Killings Were Known to French Intelligence Services)

"After," she added, he left shouting, "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar!"