A French high school student is arrested after fatally stabbing another
student and wounding 3
[April 25, 2025]
By ANGELA CHARLTON
PARIS (AP) — A high school student stabbed four other students at his
school in western France on Thursday, killing at least one and injuring
three others before being arrested, police said. The motive for the
stabbing was unclear.
Such fatal attacks are quite rare in French schools.
France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou ordered tighter security outside
and inside schools nationwide, and called for new proposals within four
weeks for preventing and punishing knife violence by teens and children.
He said metal detectors at schools could be considered.
The 15-year-old student stabbed four people with a knife during a lunch
break at the private Catholic Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides High School in
Nantes near France’s Atlantic coast, a national police official said.
Teachers subdued him, and he was later taken in by police, the official
said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to
national police policy.
The suspect had sent an email with unspecified grievances to all
students just before the attack, students at the school told French
media at the scene.
One of the targeted students died of wounds. Three were wounded,
including one who was hospitalized in "very serious condition,″ Nantes
Mayor Johanna Rolland told reporters. She did not give details about the
suspect, but raised concerns about ″the mental health of the youth of
this country.″
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said the attack was ″probably″ an
isolated act, without providing details about the investigation.
The school confined the students inside for hours while police secured
the site and carried out questioning, according to French broadcasts.
Police and armed military forces surrounded the area, and worried
parents waited outside the perimeter.
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This image taken from a BFM video shows military personnel standing
guard near the site where a French high school student stabbed four
other students at his school, killing at least one and injured three
others before being arrested, police said, in Nantes, France,
Thursday April 24, 2025. (BFM TV via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron praised the courage of the teachers
who intervened, saying in a post on X that they ″undoubtedly
prevented other dramas.″
An official at the school, which is part of a complex housing a
primary and middle school, would not comment on what happened,
saying the school is concentrating on caring for the students who
were on campus at the time. The school website was down.
“A terrible drama happened at midday today, and my thoughts go first
to the teenage girl who lost her life, and to the three wounded
students" and their families, Education Minister Elisabeth Borne
said. The teachers "are in shock, and at the same time, very
mobilized to return to class.''
France's counterterrorism prosecutor's office said it was
‘’evaluating'' the incident, but did not take over the investigation
as it does when terrorist motives are suspected. Counterterrorism
agencies across Europe and beyond have warned recently about a new
generation of underage attackers or plotters who have fed on
ultraviolent and potentially radicalizing content online.
It was unclear what led the student to carry out Thursday's attack.
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