A pupil has been arrested after a principal and teacher were shot at a school in southern <\/b>France on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
The 14-year-old entered Lakanal middle school in Aubagne “with a shotgun inside a guitar case”, regional officials told French media. He then opened fire before being restrained by a member of staff.<\/p>\n
No children were harmed and the teachers were treated for injuries which are not life-threatening, according to Aubagne Mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari.<\/p>\n
The Marseille prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation for attempted murder.<\/p>\n
Local media reported that the incident was not thought to be related to ongoing protests over school conditions, citing police sources.<\/p>\n
It was later reported in French media that the suspect’s father was also taken into custody after weapons were found during a search of the family home.<\/p>\n
The pupil entered the school in Aubagne – a small city 11 miles east of Marseille – with a gun before several shots were heard, Bouches-du-Rh\u00f4ne departmental council president Martine Vassal told reporters.<\/p>\n
The head teacher, 53, was reportedly shot in the leg <\/b>and lower back, while the 37-year-old teacher’s thigh was hit. A third person is said to have sustained minor injuries.<\/p>\n
Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the 14-year-old injured the head and the other teacher on the first floor.<\/p>\n
He then went to the second floor and fired twice, “first in front of a teacher towards the floor, and a second time inside an occupied classroom, hitting the chalkboard”, Bessone said.<\/p>\n
“Neither [that] teacher nor the students were injured, though they were severely shaken.”<\/p>\n
The boy was restrained by a member of staff in a school corridor, according to the city hall, and taken into police custody.<\/p>\n
“All students were immediately confined and made safe within seconds,” Squillari, speaking in his role as city mayor, said in an update on social media. A psychological support unit was set up on site to provide emergency support.<\/p>\n
Squillari also spoke to reporters and said: “The kids saw practically nothing since it happened in the hallway.<\/p>\n
“Psychologically, quite a few were affected, and those in a distressed state are being examined by the psychologist”.<\/p>\n
He said the suspect was a child “just like any other”.<\/p>\n
“The father had requested a meeting with the school’s educational advisor, but we don’t know any more than that,” he told BFMTV.<\/p>\n
Two pupils told BFMTV a fire alarm sounded and when they went outside to take the stairs they were told not to go down, but they then came face-to-face with the alleged shooter.<\/p>\n
One of them explained: “He was a metre away, with his hunting rifle. He fired at the ground.”<\/p>\n
“We started to run away, but he followed us for a while. We started screaming.”<\/p>\n
The school will be closed to pupils on Tuesday, Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez told reporters as he visited the scene with Education Minister \u00c9douard Geffray.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron extended his “full solidarity and total support” to the teachers, students and parents in shock.<\/p>\n
“I salute the composure and exemplary response of the educational team, which made it possible to avoid the worst,” he wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
Geffray wrote on social media: “This unacceptable act is yet further evidence of the rise of unchecked violence in our society, against which we must all take a stand.”<\/p>\n
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