The Attack on Cartoonists

... today in Paris:

Masked gunmen attacked the Paris offices of satirical weekly newspaper Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, killing 12 people before fleeing.

French security forces launched a major manhunt in the capital after the gunmen fled the scene of the attack, The Guardian reported. Police are searching for two brothers from the Paris region and another man from the northern French city of Reims in connection with the attack, a police source told Reuters.

The attackers stormed Charlie Hebdo's Paris newsroom during an editorial meeting and began firing indiscriminately, police and prosecutors said. Witnesses told police that the gunmen shouted "we have avenged the prophet," according to Agence France-Presse. Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Corinne Rey said the gunmen spoke to her in fluent French and claimed to represent al Qaeda. The gunmen called out some of the victims' names, she told Reuters.

A video, apparently filmed by an onlooker outside the office, shows two gunmen dressed in black, firing automatic weapons down the street and shouting "Allahu Akbar." ...

French media named four CH cartoonists among the dead: Stepahne Charbonniere, Cabu, Georges Wolinksi, and Bernard Verlhac.

So you know where TAG stands on this:

No human being who exercises the God-given right of free expression should be murdered for expressing an opinion or viewpoint that another part of humanity dislikes or even finds repugnant. The killing of French cartoonists and magazine staffers today was both cowardly and disgusting, and the Animation Guild stands with the French people in denouncing this act, and sends its heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of the victims.”

-- The Animation Guild, Local 839, IATSE

Add On: Deadline has published the statements of entertainment unions (including the Animation Guild) regarding the murders of French cartoonists.