Eight others were injured in the noon-time attack, including four who were in serious condition.
Molins said the attackers shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") and the "prophet is avenged," before fleeing in a stolen black Citroen, exchanging gunfire at least twice with police outside..
The dead included Stephane Charbonnier, the weekly newspaper's editorial director known as Charb, spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre of the Paris prosecutor's office confirmed.
Two officers were among those killed, including one who had been assigned as Charb's bodyguard after prior death threats against him, a police official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
The second officer was shot execution style on the sidewalk. Dramatic video taken from a second floor balcony shows two gunmen opening fire on the officer who collapses on the sidewalk. As they move toward him, the officer, appearing to raise his hand, is shot and killed at point-blank range.
The assailants then circle back to their car, which was left in the middle of the street, calmly climb inside and drive away. Police said the car was later found abandoned in the nearby 19th district in north-eastern Paris, where they three stole a second car.
As they made their way into Paris's north-eastern 19th district the fugitives collided with another car and were later forced to abandon their vehicle near the Porte de Pantin on the French capital's ring road. They are still on the run. A massive manhunt operation is underway to apprehend them.