Pupil, 14, shoots headteacher and teacher at French school with hunting rifle
Key takeaways
- A 14-year-old pupil opened fire with a hunting rifle at a middle school in Aubagne, southern France, on Monday.
- The headteacher, 53, and a teacher, 37, were wounded. Neither has life-threatening injuries.
- A staff member disarmed the boy before police arrived. He was detained. The motive is unknown.
A 14-year-old pupil shot and wounded his headteacher and a teacher at a school in France on Monday. He used a hunting rifle. He had hidden the weapon in a guitar case.
The shooting happened at Joseph-Lakanal middle school in Aubagne. Aubagne is a town near Marseille in southern France. A member of staff disarmed the boy before police arrived.
Both victims were taken to hospital. Their injuries are not life-threatening. The boy was detained.
His motive is not yet known.
What happened
The boy walked into the school on Monday morning. He was carrying a guitar case. Inside the case was a hunting rifle.
He fired at least four shots, according to Marseille deputy prosecutor Audrey Jouaneton. He started on the first floor of the school. He shot toward the headteacher and a teacher in a corridor.
The headteacher, who is 53, was hit by a shower of pellets. They struck his thighs and lower back. A teacher, 37, was hit by buckshot in the thigh.
Both were wounded but neither was in critical condition, officials said.
The boy then ran up to the second floor. He fired toward another teacher. Then he entered a classroom full of pupils and teachers.
He fired a shot toward the blackboard. A third person was grazed by gunfire, police said.
Then a supervisor stepped in. The staff member overpowered the boy and took the weapon. Police arrived soon after and detained him.
Panic spread through the school. One pupil, Sarah, told AFP she heard the fire alarm during her Spanish lesson. She went into the corridor.
She and her classmates ran into the gunman. Children ran for cover.
The local mayor confirmed the key facts. Aubagne mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari said the boy was a pupil at the school. He said the investigation will find out how the rifle got inside.
Why it matters
This is rare in France. School shootings are far less common in Europe than in the United States. That is why this story is trending.
People want to know how it could happen.
The weapon matters too. It was a hunting rifle, not a handgun. In France, hunting rifles are legal but tightly controlled.
The question now is how a 14-year-old got one into a school.
Officials moved fast to calm fears. The prefect of the Bouches-du-Rhone region, Jacques Witkowski, said the boy had no history of trouble. He said the suspect was "not known for any history of delinquency or radicalisation".
The motive remains a mystery.
There is also a bigger backdrop. France has seen a three-week wave of protests in high schools. Some of those protests turned violent.
But officials said this shooting is not linked to them.
"The middle school was not affected by the high school students' protest," police told AFP.
That matters because rumors spread fast online. When violence happens near a protest wave, people assume a link. Police ruled it out clearly and early.
President Emmanuel Macron responded on Monday. He expressed his "full solidarity" with those affected. He praised the teachers' response.
He said their "composure and exemplary response" prevented the worst from happening.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Education Minister Édouard Geffray were due to visit the school on Monday afternoon.
The staff member who disarmed the boy is being called a hero. One adult stepping in may have saved lives. The boy was heading deeper into the school when he was stopped.
For students, this is frightening. Schools are supposed to be safe places. When news like this breaks, parents worry.
Children hear about it from friends or social media. They need honest, calm answers.
Teachers are also shaken. The wounded teacher and headteacher were simply doing their jobs. The staff member who stopped the attack showed great courage.
If you are a student, it helps to talk about how you feel. Trusted adults can help. And if your exams and schoolwork feel overwhelming after scary news, that is normal.
Give yourself time.
What happens next
The boy is in custody. Investigators will ask how he got the rifle. They will ask why he brought it to school.
They will also check whether he planned the attack.
The victims will recover, officials hope. Both were wounded in the legs. Neither suffered life-threatening injuries.
That is the best news in a terrible story.
The school will likely close for a few days. Counselors will be sent to help pupils. Parents will be kept informed by the local education authority.
The government will face questions about school security. How did a rifle get past the school gates? Do French schools need better checks?
These debates will follow.
For now, Aubagne is in shock. A quiet school day turned into a national story. The town's teachers, parents, and pupils are left to make sense of it.
The staff member who acted fast deserves the last word. Because of one person's bravery, a bad day did not become a catastrophe. Schools run on teachers who show up for their students every day.
On Monday, one of them did more than that.
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