A 14-year-old student opened fire inside a school in southern France on Monday, October 12, shooting the principal and a female teacher with a hunting rifle before a courageous staff member managed to disarm him.
The frightening attack unfolded at Joseph Lakanal Middle School in Aubagne, a town just east of Marseille, sending students scrambling for safety as gunshots rang out through the building.
According to French prosecutors, the teenager entered the school carrying a 12-gauge hunting shotgun concealed inside a guitar case.
Shortly after 9 a.m., he allegedly began firing in a hallway, striking the school’s 53-year-old principal and a 37-year-old female teacher.
The principal suffered injuries to his lower body, including his thighs, while the teacher was wounded in the leg. Both were rushed to hospitals for treatment.
Authorities said their injuries were not life-threatening.
The suspect reportedly fired several shots across two floors of the building, including one into a classroom. Fortunately, no students were physically injured.
As frightened children ran for cover, a school staff member confronted the armed teenager and managed to overpower him.
The employee, identified by local officials as a student supervisor, successfully disarmed the suspect before police arrived.
French President Emmanuel Macron later praised the school’s employees for their composure and quick thinking, crediting them with preventing an even greater tragedy.
Police quickly arrested the teenager, who was identified as a student at the school. His name has not been released because he is a minor.
Investigators have not established a motive for the shooting.
Officials said the suspect had no known history of criminal activity or radicalization, and authorities are examining how he obtained the hunting rifle and managed to bring it onto school property.
The Marseille prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into attempted murder.
Outside the school, anxious parents gathered as emergency vehicles surrounded the building. Some were seen comforting their shaken children after they were allowed to leave.
Aubagne Mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari expressed shock over the violence and praised the teachers and staff members who helped protect the students.
City officials confirmed that psychological support would be made available to children, families and school employees affected by the shooting.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Education Minister Édouard Geffray were also expected to visit the school as authorities reviewed the incident.
The shooting comes during a period of widespread student demonstrations across France, with thousands of young people protesting overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating school buildings and inadequate education funding.
However, police emphasized that the attack at Joseph Lakanal was not connected to the demonstrations.
The protests, which began in September, have disrupted schools nationwide. Approximately 130 secondary schools remained closed Monday, while student organizations prepared for another nationwide day of demonstrations Tuesday.
Organizers are demanding billions of euros in additional education funding, arguing that the government’s proposed measures do not adequately address deteriorating conditions in French schools.
The government has offered concessions, including thousands of additional substitute teachers, but protesters say more substantial changes are necessary.
Although the school shooting happened amid these tensions, investigators have found no evidence linking the teenager’s actions to the protest movement.
For parents in Aubagne, the immediate concern is how an armed student managed to enter a school and fire multiple shots before being stopped.
Authorities are continuing to investigate the weapon’s origin, the teenager’s possible motive and the security procedures in place at the school.
The quick intervention of a staff member is being credited with preventing additional casualties in an attack that left two educators hospitalized and an entire school community shaken.
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