A 16-year-old student was in police custody on Wednesday afternoon after having stabbed a Spanish teacher from the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin Lycée to death, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
by Violaine Morin
A 52-year-old teacher died after being stabbed on Wednesday, February 22, in a high school class where she taught in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). The author of the facts, a 16 -year -old student, was placed in police custody. Bayonne prosecutor, Jérôme Bourrier, confirmed on Wednesday afternoon before the press the opening of an investigation for “assassination” – which means that the investigators retain the possibility of a premeditated gesture. “His state allows police custody,” said Bourrier. According to information from the world, the terrorist reason is not retained at this stage of the investigation, which is oriented towards taking into account possible psychiatric disorders of the author of the facts.
He was “unknown to the police,” the prosecutor told journalists. Nor did he have been the subject of “report” in terms of national education, confirmed the minister, Pap Ndiaye, also present on the spot on Wednesday afternoon and accompanied by the Minister of Transformation and the Function Public, Stanislas Guerini, and Philippe Delorme, the secretary general of Catholic education, on which the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school depends.
According to a police source attached by MO12345lemonde, the young man would have entered the class around 9:50 am, would have closed the door of the room before giving a stab to the teacher. He would then have taken refuge in a neighboring room, where he would have been disarmed by another teacher. He would then have made inconsistent remarks, and in particular talking about “possession”, according to the same source. Entourage – family, friends, teachers – will be heard to try to know if they have been able to make comments in recent days or adopt a behavior likely to explain his gesture.
students confined to their classrooms
After being confined in their classrooms, the students left the establishment at midday, with the exception of those who were underway with the killed teacher, noted a correspondent of the France Media Agency. Witnesses, students and teachers, were taken care of by a psychological unit and the courses that were to be held Thursday morning were canceled to continue to take care of the students, then said Pap Ndiaye in front of the press, adding that a Total “80 students”, from “three second classes”, were taken care of Wednesday by the cell.
This drama occurred in a “serene” establishment and “renowned for its seriousness”, underlined the minister, confirming the image of a calm and “opulent” high school in downtown Saint-Jean-de Luz, who, according to several sources, did not know any particular problems related to the school climate. In 2022, the success rate in the establishment’s bac was 100 %. “Nothing suggested [of] such a terrible drama,” concluded the minister.
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