The heroic police officer who was shot dead by a terrorist on a Paris street as he begged for mercy was a Muslim,
the Daily Mail reported.
Ahmed Merabet, a bicycle officer, was executed by the possibly as al Qaida-linked gunman as he lie wounded on the ground, with video footage capturing the grisly scene.
According to the report, witnesses said that the cop asked the gunman, "Do you want to kill me?"
The terrorist, believed to be a radical Muslim, allegedly replied, "OK, chief," before callously shooting him in the head.
Merabet, 42 and married, was assigned to the Paris neighborhood where the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo are located, the Mail said.
The publication had been subject to a series of threats and its offices were firebombed in 2011.
Tributes have poured in for Merabet online, just as Charlie Hebdo vowed to publish next week in defiance of the slaughter, the Mail reported.
One mourner wrote, "Ahmed Merabet died protecting the innocent from hate. I salute him."
Another one said, "RIP Ahmed Merabet, French policeman, murdered protecting people in Paris."
And Alan Mendoza wrote, "Important to note that amid the carnage today a brave Muslim policeman was murdered by those claiming to represent Islam."
Merabet was one of 12 people killed in the massacre, along with eight journalists, another cop and two guests.
Editor Stephane Charbonnier died along with married father-of-two Franck Brinsolaro, 49, the officer who was assigned to protect him.
The popular cartoonists Bernard Verlhac, Georges Wolinski, Jean Cabut and Philippe Honore also died, as well as Elsa Cayat, a psychoanalyst and columnist; Bernard Maris, an economist and journalist; Michel Renaud, reportedly a visitor to the office that day; Frederic Boisseau, a caretaker; and Mustapha Ourrad, listed as a proofreader, the
Irish Times reports.
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