Paris — The teacher in Paris who claimed to have been stabbed at a preschool by an ISIS member, fabricated the story of the assault, French authorities said on Monday.
According to a police officer in Aubervilliers — a northern suburb of the French capital, where the Jean Perrin preschool is located — the teacher admitted to inventing the attack.
The 45 years old male teacher had told authorities that the perpetrator had broken into the institution shortly past 7 a.m.; he had then entered the classroom and attacked him with the weapons he could find at hand, such as scissors and a box cutter. After that, the assailant — allegedly wearing a balaclava and gloves — had fled the preschool, following the initial statement of Phillip Galli, a top government official in the Seine-St.-Denis administrative department.
The police officer who told reporters about the hoax — going by anonymity —said that the teacher had fabricated such story in hopes that he would get transferred to another job.
Agnès Thibault-Lecuivre, spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor’s office, reported that the supposed victim initially claimed that the attack had been a warning from ISIS, the Islamic terror group responsible for the coordinated terrorist attacks in the French capital last month.
Although the teacher’s wounds weren’t critical, they still sent him to the hospital before the lie was uncovered.
Authorities went as far as to open a preliminary investigation for attempted murder and send officials to chase after the attacker. The Jean Perrin preschool also closed its doors, believing an assault had taken place inside of the institution, said French education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.
The minister assured the government would keep reinforcing security at schools and announced Jean Perrin would reopen on Tuesday.
The caution of French authorities comes as no surprise, as Paris has been in a state of emergency ever since November’s terrorist attacks in the capital claimed the life of 130 people and left over 350 wounded.
Source: New York Times