(CNN)Ahmed has joined Charlie in the social media tributes to victims of the Paris terrorist attack this week. The hashtag #JeSuisCharlie -- "I am Charlie" -- became an international rallying point for people expressing solidarity with the victims of the slaughter carried out by gunmen at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday. But another hashtag, #JeSuisAhmed, has become a poignant way of honoring Ahmed Merabet, a 40-year-old police officer who was killed by the terrorists. During the massacre at the Charlie Hebdo offices, the gunmen claimed that they were avenging the Prophet Mohammed by attacking a magazine that had repeatedly lampooned Islam and other religions.
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Ahmed Merabet is reportedly a Muslim whose parents came from North Africa
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The Charlie Hebdo attackers shot him in the head as he lay wounded in the street
By Friday morning Paris time, his tweet, using the #@placeholder hashtag, had been retweeted more than 17,000 times.