A 15-year-old schoolboy is facing prison after pointing a gun at a teacher.
A 15-year-old schoolboy is facing prison after pointing a gun at a teacher.
A 15-year-old schoolboy is facing a prison sentence after pointing a gun at his teacher and shouting "put your head down", as if he was about to execute her.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared before a youth judge in France on Sunday following the terrifying incident.
Shortly after 10am last Thursday the boy and a group of friends allegedly forced their way into a classroom where the teacher was marking work at Edouard Branly High School in Creteil, a south east suburb of greater Paris.
The teenager turned himself into police, claiming the pistol was fake.
The boys can be heard sniggering, as the bespectacled female teacher remains calm and carries out the instructions that are being barked at her.
A video was filmed, and it was posted on social media on Friday – going viral, and causing shock and outrage across the country.
President Emmanuel Macron called on his Interior Ministry to "take all measures to ensure that what happened is punished, and that this type of behaviour is permanently banned from schools".
The boy – whose face is hidden in the video – was reported by the teacher, who has also not been named, and he later turned himself into a police station with his father.
He insisted that the pistol was fake, and he was simply enjoying a joke, without any intent to intimidate his teacher.
In turn, she made a complaint of "violent threats with a weapon", which is punishable by up to five years in prison.
Even if a weapon is a fake, the charge still stands when a pistol is "used as if it is a real one", said a legal source close to the case.
The incident comes at a time of increasing violence among school children in France, especially on housing projects around major cities.
Three youths including a 14-year-old boy are currently facing attempted murder charges following a savage attack at the end of last month.
A gang of youths, some as young as 14, were filmed attacking a 17-year-old in broad daylight in Garges-les-Gonesse.
A video shows a mob allegedly trying to kill their 17-year-old victim in broad daylight on a council estate in the northern Paris suburbs.
Makeshift weapons including hockey sticks, petanque balls and a crutch were used to repeatedly beat the youth around the head and upper body.
He was finally dragged away by terrified locals who witnessed the assault, and was rushed to an intensive care unit.
The images – which involved mainly white youths in their early teens – were shot in Garges-les-Gonesse, in the Val-d'Oise department, some 32km from the centre of Paris.
Around 10 suspects were involved in the attack, with those now in custody including the two schoolboys aged 14 and 16, and a 20-year-old man.
A judicial enquiry has been opened, with magistrates investigating attempted murder, aggravated violence, and an armed gang attack.
