A 16-year-old man was taken into custody on Wednesday 24 May for disclosing false information. He is suspected of having produced a hoax leading the police and rescue to intervene in Pontoise, at the end of the day. An important mechanism has been put in place. A security perimeter has been deployed in the Louvrais district. Traffic was diverted for several hours. All for nothing.
In the late afternoon, shortly after 17 p.m., the police received a call. The interlocutor claims to be holed up at home, in an apartment in the Place de Flandres, with his wife and children. He says he is armed and wants to kill his entire family. The threat is taken very seriously by the police who then commit significant resources to prevent a tragedy from happening.
#police operation underway Place des Flandres in #Pontoise
⚠️ Avoid the area:
⏩ Place des Flandres
⏩ Touraine
⏩ Rue de Bretagne
🚧 Do not hinder the intervention of the security and rescue forces pic.twitter.com/PgRni8dvGV
— National Police 95 (@PoliceNat95) May 24, 2023
Crews of the anti-crime brigade (Bac) and police officers on patrol from the Cergy police station rushed to the scene. The departmental intervention company is set up. Several fire brigade vehicles went to the scene to take care of any victims as quickly as possible. Gendarmes are deployed as reinforcements. A team from the Raid, the intervention unit of the national police, arrives at the apartment. They challenge the individual.
The teenager, who was in the apartment, was unarmed. More than fifty firefighters, police and gendarmes were mobilized on this intervention. It was probably a case of "swatting", a hoax aimed at needlessly mobilizing the police. This practice, which has developed over the past ten years, is punishable by two years' imprisonment and a fine of 30,000 euros.
