I think the bigger question here is: If he did fake it, why?
Is it tho ? It's the one most difficult to answer, maybe even by the man setting up the hoax (if it is indeed that). A weird publicity stunt perhaps ?
In 1959, French politician Mitterrand is chased by a car after dinner, and his own Peugeot is shot at after he parked and hid close by in the Parisian rue de l'Observatoire. The climate in France at the time is very tense as the civil war in French Algeria is ever spiraling in terribleness (bombs, mass killings by police during a protest, assassination attempts, byzantine politics, fear of a military coup, a real war just accross the Med) and it is suspected he was targeted by French Algerian Ultras (as they would also try on President De Gaulle in 1962). A few days later however, a former representative close to the far right goes to the press and claims he masterminded with Mitterrand himself this fake assassination attempt, with some actual evidence suggesting it was plausible. Ultimately Mitterrand had to admit he did met the man beforehand though never coping to the whole thing. It lingered unenthusiastically in courts for years and was dropped when the amnesty law for French Algeria events passed, but common wisdom was that Mitterrand was indeed in on it though the overall national situation was so rife with spook bullshit (and Mitterrand apparently threatening to drop compromising files on his own if pushed) that the Gaullists didn't try to totally bury him with it. The man, Pesquet, later would change versions, claiming he was really missioned by Gaullist Prime Minister Debré to approach Mitterrand and discredit him, muddying the waters even more. But despite the backlash from that affair, Mitterrand would ultimately manage to be elected President for two terms in 1981.
That's a bit of an aside, but it's just to say that people in the public light will go to incredible and stupid lengths for good publicity.
