A 14-year-old student was arrested on Monday morning after shooting a principal and a teacher at Lakanal high school in Aubagne, near Marseille in the south of France. According to available information, the injuries to the two staff members are not life-threatening, and no children were injured.
The Minister of Education, Édouard Geffray, confirmed on social media that the two staff members, the principal and the teacher, were victims of gunshot wounds, and that the perpetrator, according to initial information, was a student at the school. Geffray stated that he would visit the school on Monday afternoon alongside Laurent Nuñez, the Minister of the Interior.
The mayor of Aubagne, Jean-Pierre Squillari, stated that the ninth-grade student was apprehended immediately after the shooting. According to him, the student entered the school with a pistol, after which several shots were fired, and one of the staff members managed to subdue him. The mayor added that all students had been immediately moved to safety.
The principal, aged 53, was reportedly shot in the leg, while the 37-year-old teacher was wounded in the thigh. Both received medical attention for injuries that were not life-threatening.
BFMTV and Le Parisian reported, citing sources close to the investigation, that the incident was not linked to student protests over conditions in French schools. The circumstances of the incident and the motive for the attack are under investigation.
