PUPIL ARRESTED AFTER SHOOTING WOUNDS TWO STAFF AT FRENCH SCHOOL

French police took a 14-year-old pupil into custody after he opened fire with a shotgun hidden inside a guitar case at Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, near Marseille, on Monday, wounding a head teacher and a teacher. Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the pupil shot both on the first floor, then went upstairs and fired further shots, one of which struck a classroom chalkboard without injuring anyone. A member of staff restrained him in a corridor. Aubagne Mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari said all pupils were confined and made safe within seconds.

Police in the Bouches-du-Rhône region said the pupil's motive was unknown, and the injuries to the two staff members are not life-threatening. Accounts differ on whether anyone else was hurt: one report said a third person sustained minor injuries, while another said no pupils were harmed. Aubagne lies nine to eleven miles east of Marseille, according to different accounts. French media reported that the pupil's father was also detained after weapons were found at the family home. The shooting was not thought to be linked to ongoing protests by pupils over school conditions, according to local media.

The Marseille prosecutor's office has opened an investigation for attempted murder. Squillari said counselling is being offered to pupils affected by the shooting. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said on social media that the shooting "highlights the rise of unbridled violence in our society, against which we must all mobilise, in words as well as deeds." Gun violence by pupils is rare in French schools, though a school shooting in 2017 wounded three pupils and a principal, and pupil stabbings have also occurred, including a fatal one in 2025.