In the southwest French town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a 16-year-old student fatally stabbed a teacher, according to authorities and the local prosecutor’s office, on Wednesday.
A woman in her 50s who taught Spanish was the victim, according to local legislator Vincent Bru.
A source familiar with the investigation informed reporters that the student was detained after reporting to another instructor that he was possessed and had heard voices telling him to attack the teacher.
While Bru refused to provide further information about the attack, he did state that “this does not seem to have any terrorist cause at all.”
“It’s a shock,” he said of the attack, speaking in a phone interview with Reuters, adding that the school was in a quiet area and had had no security issues so far.
Pupils fled in panic after the stabbing, local newspaper Sud Ouest said, citing two students who were in the classroom and witnessed the attack.
The attacker stood up during a lesson and walked to the door, before turning around and stabbing the teacher, they said.
BFM TV gave a similar account and said the attacker talked to a teacher in the classroom next door, was calm and agreed to hand over his weapon.
Officials at the prosecutor’s office and the education ministry declined to respond to questions about the details of the attack, saying the prosecutor would do so shortly, at a news conference.
Education Minister Pap Ndiaye, who was heading to the site of the attack, tweeted: “My thoughts are with the family, colleagues, and the pupils.”
