France school shooting: Student, 14, arrested after two teachers wounded by shotgun blasts
Local police said a 14-year-old pupil taken into custody was carrying a gun and was a student of the middle school.
Police detained a 14-year-old pupil suspected in a rare school shooting on Monday in France that wounded the principal and another staff member.
The police department in the Bouches-du-Rhône region of southern France said the suspect’s motive was unknown. The boy taken into custody was carrying a gun and is a pupil of the Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, east of Marseille, where the shooting occurred, police said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Sources told Metro that the school’s 53-year-old head teacher was shot in the right hip by a shotgun, while a 37-year-old teacher was struck in the thigh by ricocheting shot.
“A 14-year-old teenager has been detained on suspicion of firing the shots. Emergency workers are at the scene. The injured principal and teacher have received medical attention, and their lives are not in danger,” a source told the outlet.
The staff members were hit with ammunition used in 12-gauge shotguns. No pupils were injured, police and Aubagne’s mayor said. The mayor said mental health counseling is being offered to pupils.
There was no immediate information to suggest that the shooting was in any way connected to protests by high school pupils that have been shaking France for several weeks.
The middle school wasn’t impacted on Monday by the protests, police said.
French education minister Édouard Geffray posted on X that he would be heading to the scene with the nation’s interior minister.
“Two staff members from the National Education system, a principal and a teacher, were victims this morning of gunshot wounds at Lakanal middle school in Aubagne,” Geffray posted.
“A student is said to be the perpetrator. I am heading to the scene immediately with the Interior Minister, Laurent Nunez.”
The attack comes as France continues to grapple with a nationwide high school protest movement over deteriorating school buildings, teacher shortages, and inequalities hurting schools in disadvantaged neighbourhoods.
The movement has at times turned violent, and police have made more than 6,600 arrests. Hundreds have been injured, including students, teachers and police.
