"I entered the classroom just after it had all happened." The boy who stabbed the teacher "was in shock, dazed. He kept apologizing over and over. He told me he had a clear plan: to hurt only one person, not to injure any of his classmates, and then to turn himself in." So said Corrado Ruffini, an educational assistant at the Giovanni Verga institute in Rome. "I took charge of the boy until the prompt arrival of law enforcement. The school reacted very well and got the students out of the classroom to protect them." As for the boy who intervened to save the teacher: "At first I mistook him for an adult because of his size. He performed a truly heroic act."
A preliminary report from the Carabinieri has also been sent to the ordinary Prosecutor's Office in Rome regarding the incident. The involvement of magistrates at Piazzale Clodio may be linked to the identification of possible instigators who, through social media groups, may have pushed the boy into committing the act. Investigators are scouring the internet in an attempt to identify the four users who were connected live when the act was committed, and whoever subsequently posted it online. It cannot be ruled out that the server and the author may be located abroad, possibly in Russia.
Concern and dismay marked the parents who this morning accompanied their children back to the institute. "The video in which he prepares the attack is disturbing," many repeated. "To think that it is easy to bring knives of that size into schools is madness," said one father. "You can't help but be worried about bringing our children back here after what happened." For another parent, "the responsibility is collective. We don't know what is going on in these kids' heads. Parents, teachers and institutions must join forces to intervene together."
"My mom told me she wants to go back to work as soon as possible — she is a very strong woman. She always used to tell me that when she had a difficult student she tried to approach him first as a person before as a teacher. She is a woman who always seeks a human connection with her students; she is strict, it's true, but only to pass on values." Speaking to Mattino Cinque was Stefano, the son of the teacher attacked in Centocelle, Rome, by one of her students. "I have seen some comments on social media," he continued in response to a question, "I don't particularly care about them — on any given issue it's normal that some people approve and others don't. It is wrong to exploit certain topics that have nothing to do with the professionalism my mother has always shown."
A hero's return to class this morning for the boy of Congolese origin who on Friday managed to stop his classmate who had just stabbed his teacher at a middle school in Rome. The young man was welcomed by the principal and the entire school community. "It was a community embrace, full of gratitude. They thanked him for preventing a massacre — it could have gone much worse," said Cecilia Fannunza, the School Councillor for the Fifth Municipality. During the morning, the class gathered in an assembly with teachers and psychologists from the school's counselling service to process what had happened on Friday.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA
