A high school student has been killed and three others injured in a school stabbing attack in western France, police have said.
The alleged culprit, a 15-year-old student, was tackled by teachers and overpowered after the attack at around 12.30pm at the Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides school near the town hall of Doulon, in Nantes.
Police arrested him at the scene, which is now also swarming with army officers, medics and fire officers, as the investigation into the attack gets underway.
There is no indication of a terrorist motive, the police spokesperson added. The motive is currently unknown.
According to preliminary investigations, police believe the student entered two classrooms before carrying out the stabbing and subsequently being subdued, Le Parisien reported.
Recalling the chaos following the attack, one second-year student described people running around the courtyard, as someone held a door open shouting for them to get out.
“I was in the foyer, we saw a lot of people running around the courtyard, I heard that someone had a knife,” the student told Ouest-France.
“We didn't know whether to believe it. Then we saw someone from IT holding the door to the high school building, he was yelling at us to get out. We took refuge with the middle school students. I just learned that a student had died..."
Another student said: “We were in the labs, the tension started to rise after the alarm sounded. We saw the police arrive. We stayed confined to the classrooms and then went out into the courtyard. We learned that teachers had intervened.”
Another student, who is in their final year at high school, told the outlet: "We're very shocked. We only see this on television. We didn't think it could happen in our high school.”
Nantes mayor Johanna Rolland told reporters that one of those injured was in "very serious condition”. She did not give details about the suspect, but raised concerns about "the mental health of the youth of this country”.
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.
French education minister Elisabeth Borne said in a post on X: “A knife attack took place this afternoon at a private school in Nantes.
“I am going there with [interior minister] Bruno Retailleau to express my solidarity with the victims and my support for the educational community.”
