(Reuters) The Chechen teenager who beheaded a French teacher for showing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in class had contacted a school parent who prosecutors said used social media to whip up a hateful campaign against the victim, a police source said.
The source said the attacker sent the Muslim schoolgirl’s father an SMS message and added that it was not clear whether the parent responded. BFM TV reported he had exchanged WhatsApp messages with the killer in the days preceding the attack.
The parent is one of 16 people now held in custody over the blood-curdling killing of 47-year-old history teacher Samuel Paty. It horrified a country whose deep-rooted democratic values, the government says, are under attack from within.
