When it was later revealed that the officer was a member of the same religion the terrorists claimed to be representing, it added to the senselessness of their cowardly, sickening act.
In reality, the terrorists were just that - propagators of terror, but nothing else. Their cause, and the cause of their extremist cohorts, is a baseless one.
It is founded on ill-conceived notions of revenge and hatred, devoid of any substance, intellectual or historical justification, and certainly of any connection to any form of god.
The terrorists held a nation to ransom with their cold-blooded killings, but France rose above them in a way no other nation could.
They were just three gunmen - but 3.7 million people turned out on the country's streets to condemn their brutality and attack on free expression.
It was an unprecedented gathering, surpassing even the crowds who turned out to celebrate the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany in 1944.
In the wake of the terror, the harnessing of language - and in particular the catchphrase "Je suis Charlie" - encapsulated the France I adore.
In my experience (and the experience of countless others who have gone before me), France is a land of passion and beauty, a country where people put family, holidays, food and wine before work; celebrating culture, the arts and sport in equal measure; and voicing their opinions on politics, religion and world affairs vociferously.
But most of all, France is a country where the values of liberty, equality and fraternity are unequivocal, even if its cities are dogged by a degree of racial tension.
France's refusal this week to cave to that tension - with its displays of unity between Jews and Muslims - proves the point about the immutability of its values.
And France is no stranger to extremist threats, including in recent history.
In 2012, seven people were shot dead by an Islamic militant who went on a week-long rampage in Toulouse, our regional capital.
Among the people he murdered were three children killed outside a Jewish school - a threat near enough to be real for our tiny village of Peguilhan, 85km away.
As a result, my children had to participate in a terrorism drill at their school, where just 40 children were housed in two small classrooms. They were locked in the classrooms for two hours and asked to keep silent while their teacher pretended to be a "wolf" outside.
It made me feel sad to think of innocent children having to do the drill but such preparations and the bravery of police, soldiers and ordinary people in the face of the latest barbarity may have saved France from an even higher toll.
It makes me feel proud to know it will not be cowered.
Juliet Rowan is a reporter for Bay of Plenty Times Weekend. Marcel Currin's regular column returns next week.
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