db_garland doesn't consider that a "reputable image". If you could run a banner across the top of the image with Huff Post or Salon, he might change his mind, but more than likely he'll just change the topic.
From the NY Times: When the two attackers left the building, again shouting “Allahu akbar” (God is great), they headed toward their waiting getaway car and exchanged gunfire [bold mine] with police officers who had begun to converge on the area. That scene was captured in a video taken by one of Mr. Beaupé's colleagues, Martin Boudot, who had gone to the roof of the building and turned on his camera. A short time later, a lone police officer on the scene, Ahmed Merabet, was struck by one of the gunmen’s bullets and fell to the sidewalk, holding his hands up for mercy. Instead, one of the gunmen walked calmly toward him and shot him in the head. So was the "lone police officer" armed or not? The BBC: The black Citroen is thought to have driven south down the Boulevard Richard Lenoir, before doubling back on the northern carriageway. The car stopped and video footage shows the gunmen got out of the vehicle and shot police officer Ahmed Merabet, 42. One of the attackers then walked up to the officer lying injured on the pavement and killed him at close range before returning to the car and driving away with his accomplice. Armed?
Merabet was a bicycle cop. They are not armed. Video footage which has now been pulled from the internet showed the two gunmen get out of the car before one shot the policeman in the groin. As he falls to the pavement groaning in pain and holding up an arm as though to protect himself, the second gunman moves forward and asks the policeman: “Do you want to kill us?” Merabet replies: “Non, ç’est bon, chef” (“No, it’s OK mate”). The terrorist then shoots him in the head. The other cop was shot before he could pull his weapon. Another policeman, 48-year-old Franck Brinsolaro, was killed moments earlier in the assault on Charlie Hebdo where he was responsible for the protection of the magazine’s editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, one of the 11 killed in the building. A colleague said he “never had time” to pull his weapon. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/08/ahmed-merabet-mourned-charlie-hebdo-paris-attack How much pretzel logic must you use to try and rationalize your defend Islam at all costs position?
The article you quote appears to say nothing about bicycle cops, though I may have missed it (there were two bicycle cops among the police officers there, but they fled before any of this went down). What it does say is that he arrived at the scene with a female colleague and that he was on foot. As for the bodyguard (the "other cop"), the fact that he couldn't pull his weapon goes back to my initial post on the matter, i.e., that with this situation in mind, the push toward arming everybody is a lot of nonsense. Incidentally, none of this has anything to do with defending Islam. Rather it has to do with the silliness of thinking that arming everybody is going to provide some sort of safety. If armed and trained policemen can't handle it, what are a bunch of overly-optimistic yahoos who, with few exceptions, have never seen any sort of service at all outside shooting ranges and video games going to do besides maybe wet themselves?
A decent point. Civilians armed with limited experience against a surprise attack by heavily armed, well trained adversaries will not end well for the inexperienced. However, too soft a target, as is evidenced by what just happened, doesn't end well either and presents easy picking for terrorists. All police need to be trained and well armed. The knowledge of a few citizens carrying weapons may give the terrorists some pause, but I will concede that a largely inexperienced civilian populace trying to defend itself against these type of attacks won't deliver the results that some may claim. Bottom line is that in this case the people that got hit were foolish to not have had a better defense in place given their history with terrorists. You want to poke fun at what you know to be a rabid dog, then you best have a plan to defend yourself when the dog attacks. IOW, wise ass pacifists aren't long for the world we live in today.
Actually, the bottom line is that a trained and armed policeman on duty as a body guard was shot dead (terrorists don't call ahead). Those who were "called to the scene" had every reason to expect at least some sort of trouble. And even though there was "an exchange of gunfire", none of the terrorists got hit. What in all this would have given terrorists "pause"? As for defending oneself, the GI Joes who hang out in this forum and arm themselves to the teeth in anticipation of terrorists (or government lackeys) are very likely to be eating or sitting on the john if and when the occasion ever arises.