Local cartoonist reacts to Paris newspaper shooting

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Signe Wilkinson, a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist for the Philadelphia Daily News, responded to news of the deadly shooting at a Paris newspaper.

"These are my people. All they did is draw cartoons. They didn't shoot anyone, they didn't behead anyone," said Wilkinson.

The massacre at the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo was apparently prompted by the magazine's use of unflattering cartoon images of Muhammad to poke fun at radical Islamists.

Wilkinson says the attack does more harm to the radicals than the rest of us.

"They're harming themselves. This action harms them worse than any cartoon could," she said.

Wilkinson says she will not be intimidated by the attack.

She has published cartoons like one showing Muhammad having a good laugh with his fellow prophets and she says she got no negative feedback from it.

Wilkinson adds that the attack in Paris will not intimidate her into avoiding cartoons that depict Muhammad.

"No, I'm going to do one for tomorrow's paper. And I will do lots more until this craziness stops," she said.

Wilkinson says her editors have always had her back and she doesn't look over her shoulder when she leaves the building.

"If you're killed, it doesn't really - personally, it doesn't matter that much. For society, yes, absolutely. You can't have people going around saying, 'I disagree, therefore, this person has to be shot,'" said Wilkinson.

Wilkinson makes a living taking shots at the mighty and powerful, including Chris Christie in Wednesday's cartoon.

For her, nothing is off limits, including terrorists and their prophet.

"Cartoons don't kill people. Crazy people kill people," said Wilkinson.