Southland law enforcement was on heightened alert today following a terrorist attack at a magazine office in Paris that left a dozen people dead.
Los Angeles Police Department Officer Rosario Herrera said, however, there are “no local threats.”
No extra security was visible outside the French Consulate in West Los Angeles, although one visitor told KNX radio that only one person was being allowed inside the building at a time to apply for visas.
As many as three people are believed to have been involved in the attack on the office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which has been targeted by terrorists in the past following its publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. Reports from Paris indicate two gunmen went into the magazine’s office and opened fire, killing 10 staffers and two police officers.
The gunmen fled from the scene in a vehicle driven by a third person.
Although no group took immediate responsibility for the assault, anonymous supporters of al-Qaida and Islamic State movements sent messages via Twitter hailing the attack as revenge for the magazine’s disrespect of Muhammad in cartoons published in 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“This was a barbaric attack on innocent French citizens and on our shared belief in the fundamental right of free expression,” Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said. “My thoughts and prayers are with the injured and the families of those killed in this heinous and cowardly act of terror.”
President Barack Obama also condemned the attack, which he said “underscores the degree to which these terrorists fear freedom — of speech and freedom of the press.”
