Elmhurst Student Faked Attack
By BJ LUTZ
Updated 3:53 PM CST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009
A 19-year-old female Elmhurst College student lied when she said she was assaulted by a masked gunman last week, police said Friday.
Oak Brook native Safia Z. Jilani has been arrested and charged with filing a false police report.
Jilani said she was attacked in a lower-level bathroom at the college's Schaible Science Center. Word of the attack forced the campus into lockdown and and an emergency text message was sent to students, urging them to stay indoors while police scoured the campus for a suspect.
She said the attack was motivated because of her Muslim religion.
Jilani said her locker was defaced with a Nazi symbol and incendiary phrases a week prior to the alleged attack. Police said they are still investigating that incident.
The same words of hate scrawled on her locker were also found on a mirror the night she claimed she was attacked.
Police said Friday that a week-long investigation has determined that the assault and graffiti never occurred.
Filing a false police report is a felony and punishable by up to three years in prison, police said.
First Published: Oct 17, 2008 3:59 PM CST
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