A French school shooting in Aubagne left a school principal and a teacher injured after a 14-year-old student allegedly opened fire with a shotgun at Joseph Lakanal middle school on Monday, October 12.
The teenager was arrested after reportedly bringing the weapon to the school in a guitar case and firing several shots across two floors of the building. A member of staff eventually confronted and disarmed him, preventing further injuries, according to prosecutors.
The principal and the teacher were wounded in the legs during the initial shooting on the school’s first floor. Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the student fired once or twice, striking both victims with pellets from a 12-gauge shotgun.
Both staff members were taken to hospital, where they received treatment for injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
The teenager then moved to the second floor and fired twice more. According to prosecutors, one shot hit the floor in front of a teacher, while the other struck a teaching board inside a classroom. No additional injuries were reported from those shots, although pupils in the classroom were left deeply shaken by what had happened.
A staff member intercepted the student in a stairwell and took the weapon from him before police detained him. Marseille deputy prosecutor Audrey Jouaneton praised the intervention, describing it as an act of “extreme courage.”
Authorities had not established the teenager’s motive at the time of the initial reports. Jouaneton said investigators did not yet have enough evidence to determine whether he had deliberately targeted the principal and the teacher.
“We still don’t have sufficiently precise evidence to say that he wanted to target the teaching staff, this principal and the teacher, but they were in any case hit by the shots,” she said.
Reports suggested that the teenager may have recently separated from his girlfriend, raising questions about whether the breakup played a role in the alleged attack. However, prosecutors had not confirmed that the relationship was connected to the shooting, and the circumstances surrounding the incident remained under investigation.
The French school shooting prompted a response from the country’s political leadership. President Emmanuel Macron praised the school staff in a post on X, commending their composure and response to the emergency. He said their actions had helped prevent an even worse outcome.
Mental health counselling was offered to pupils following the incident. The support was intended to help students cope with the shock of witnessing or experiencing the aftermath of the shooting.
The attack occurred as student protests over demands for better-resourced schools had been taking place across France for several weeks. However, police said Joseph Lakanal middle school was not affected by the demonstrations on Monday. There was also no immediate evidence linking the shooting to the protests.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray condemned the incident in a post on X, calling it an unacceptable act and urging a collective response to violence in society.
Gun violence involving pupils at French schools is rare. The incident in Aubagne has raised questions about how the teenager obtained the shotgun, what prompted him to bring it to school and whether there had been warning signs before the attack. Those questions remained unanswered as authorities continued their investigation.
