A 15-year-old boy fatally stabbed a fellow student and injured three others at a high school in the western French city of Nantes on Thursday, before being subdued by teachers, according to police.
BFM TV reported that the student who died was a girl and that the three injured students were boys. Police did not confirm the age or gender of the victims.
Teaching staff subdued the attacker at the Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides, a private Catholic school, before police arrived, a police spokesperson said.
‘No Terrorist Motive’
She said there was nothing to indicate a terrorist motive.
The institution, which serves approximately 2,000 students from nursery level through high school, was quickly placed on high alert.
Students were held inside the school after the attack but allowed to leave in the mid-afternoon under police protection. Dozens of parents waited outside.
“We’re waiting to be able to hold them in our arms … to help them deal with the stress this will have caused,” said Nicolas, a parent at the school.
Police did not name the suspect or give any motives for the attack.
Local newspaper Ouest France said the attacker was dressed all in black and wore a helmet and balaclava. Two knives were found lying next to his belongings, it said.
BFM and other media reported that the suspected attacker, using his email account, had emailed a document to all students in the school in which he painted a bleak picture of society, but had not made any mention of a possible attack.
Stabbing After Conflict
French broadcaster Franceinfo said the stabbing followed a conflict among students.
Police did not immediately confirm the media reports.
French Education Minister Élisabeth Borne expressed her support for those affected, writing on social media that she stands in “solidarity with the victims.”
Christelle Morançais, president of the Pays de la Loire region where Nantes is located, said she was “devastated” by the incident.
Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland also shared her heartbreak, saying she was “overcome with emotion at the horrific tragedy” and had been present at the school since early afternoon.
(With inputs from Reuters)
