Nantes: A 15-year-old student fatally stabbed a classmate and injured three others during an attack at a high school in Nantes, a city in western France, on Thursday. The attacker was subdued by teaching staff before police arrived, authorities reported.
BFM TV confirmed that the student who died was a girl, while the three injured students were boys. Police did not immediately confirm the victims’ ages or genders. The incident took place at Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides, a private Catholic school.
A police spokesperson stated that there was no indication of a terrorist motive in the attack. Following the midday assault, students were confined inside the school and were allowed to leave later in the afternoon under police escort. Dozens of parents gathered outside the school, anxiously waiting for their children.
“We’re waiting to be able to hold them in our arms… to help them deal with the stress this will have caused,” said Nicolas, a parent at the school.
A classmate of the attacker spoke to reporters, revealing that the student had previously expressed sympathies with Nazi ideology. “He spoke of Nazi ideology. We thought he just said that to make people laugh… What we heard is that he wanted to bring back the Nazi ideas of Hitler,” the classmate said outside the school.
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Reports indicated that just before the attack, the student sent a lengthy email to the entire school, which, according to French media, carried an environmental and anti-globalization message. The email did not mention the planned attack.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a conservative, refrained from commenting on the attacker’s background or motives but linked the violence to broader social issues. “The general climate of laxism and a lack of order and hierarchy is what leads to this kind of violence,” he said.
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Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland, a socialist, emphasized that it was too early to draw political conclusions. “The mental health of the youth of this country is an issue that needs to be raised,” she added.
The Nantes prosecutor will provide further details at a press conference scheduled for Friday.
