This Wednesday, a Spanish teacher was killed at Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, stabbed by a 16-year-old student. The psychological disorders of the teenager are at the heart of the investigation.
- A 53-year-old Spanish teacher was stabbed to death in a high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), this Wednesday, February 22, 2023.
- The teacher’s attacker is a 16-year-old high school student who pulled out a knife in class around 10 a.m.
- The victim, initially in cardio-respiratory arrest, died despite the intervention of the emergency services.
- The teenager was arrested by the police. he is a young man described as “calm” and “taking medication against stress. His motives are not yet known, but the investigation is already focusing on the potential psychological problems of the high school student, who would have indicated having been “possessed”; the trail of the attack has been ruled out at this stage.
- The students of Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school were confined to their classrooms for almost two hours, they left the establishment around noon.
- Follow live the latest information.
Live
1:28 p.m. – A press conference organized at 4 p.m.
West France announces that the entourage of the Minister of National Education has declared that a press conference will be organized at the Lycée Saint-Thomas d’Aquin this Wednesday afternoon, at 4 p.m. The public prosecutor of Bayonne, the prefect of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, the rector of the Bordeaux academy and probably Pap N’Diaye, the Minister of National Education, should be present during this press briefing.
13:13 – Did the high school student try to run away after stabbing the teacher?
“Before leaving, we saw the aggressor remain standing, his weapon in his hand, this last lift”, still tell students who witnessed the scene. The police arrested the high school student in the school but did not specify whether the young man had tried to flee after his act.
12:57 – The students tried to escape from the classroom by all means
When the Spanish teacher was attacked, all the students in the class tried to flee the scene. Two students present at the time of the events tell South West “Everyone tried to get out through a door leading to another class. With fear, others were tempted to go through the window”. In their race, the students warned a principal education adviser who was able to sound the alarm in the other classes.
12:50 – Students are gradually leaving Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school
After being confined to the classrooms for nearly two hours, the students of the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school are in the process of leaving the school which welcomes around 1,100 children according to AFP. Only the parents of the students present in the class during the attack were authorized to enter the school to find their children.
12:45 – Who is the high school student behind the attack on the teacher?
The perpetrator of the attack is a 16-year-old high school student whom classmates describe as a “calm student, experiencing some difficulties in certain subjects”. The two witnesses also indicated to South West that the young man “was taking medication for stress”.
12:41 – What weapon did the attacker use to stab the teacher?
The high school student stabbed his teacher with a knife, but the nature of this weapon is not yet specified, according to the details of BFM TV, it would be a blade of about 10 centimeters. Near South Westtwo students who witnessed the scene evoke an object that “looked like a screwdriver”.
12:37 – The government shows its “support”
“I can hardly imagine the trauma that this can represent”, reacted at midday the spokesman of the government, Olivier Véran, at the end of the Council of Ministers. He wanted to show the “support” of the executive to the relatives of the teacher killed, to the students and to the teaching community of the establishment.
12:34 – The track of the terrorist act dismissed, the investigation entrusted to the judicial police
The public prosecutor of Bayonne, Jérôme Bourrier, announced the opening of an investigation entrusted to the judicial police. For the time being, the track of the act or of a terrorist motive seems to have been ruled out according to information from the World who adds that the investigators are moving more towards “taking into account possible psychiatric disorders” of the high school student at the origin of the attack.
12:29 – The motive for the teacher’s attack still unknown
The assailant was arrested and his profile is beginning to become clearer, but it is still unclear what intentions or motive may have prompted him to stab the Spanish teacher.
12:29 – Saint Thomas Aquinas, a quiet high school
As BFMTV reports, the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin private high school is known in metropolitan France for being a quiet establishment, with excellent baccalaureate results. The continuous news channel contacted a former student, Michel: “It’s a high school where not a lot of things usually happen, in any case nothing serious. It’s a very serious high school, with a very family atmosphere”, he developed.
12:27 – High school student says he “heard voices”
The mental health of the high school student behind the attack could be questioned. According to the details of Parisian, the young man of 16 says he “heard voices” ordering him to stab the professor. The information echoes that of BFM TV according to which the high school student says he has “been possessed”.
12:20 – The high school student allegedly stabbed his teacher in the middle of class
According to the testimony of a student with our colleagues from France Blue Basque Country, the assailant who was attending the class would have stood up during the class holding a knife concealed in paper. He would have blocked the door of the classroom before advancing towards the professor to stab her in the chest. Panicked, the other students in the class fled.
12:13 – The Minister of Education expected on site
The Minister of National Education Pap N’Diaye quickly reacted to the death of a teacher announcing his move to the Saint-Jean-de-Luz high school, as soon as possible.
Immense emotion following the death today of a teacher at Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. My thoughts for his family, colleagues and students. I go there without delay.
— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) February 22, 2023
12:11 – No student was injured
Only the Spanish teacher was stabbed, no child was injured inside or outside the school. The aggressor arrested, the students no longer risk anything. According to information from South Westall the entrances to the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin college-high school were blocked by the police who have been ordered not to communicate.
12:06 – An open psychological cell for students at Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school
Law enforcement and emergency services arrived at the scene around 10 a.m., shortly after the stabbing. During their intervention, the students of the Catholic school were confined to the classrooms with their teachers. Since then, a medico-psychological emergency unit has been set up for pupils and teachers.
Learn more
This Wednesday, February 22, 2023, a teacher from Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) was killed by a student, who violently attacked her with a knife, around 10 a.m., in the middle of a Spanish lesson. France Blue Basque Country comes from a testimony that the teenager would have got up in the middle of the lesson, hiding his bladed weapon in a sheet. After blocking the door of the room, he allegedly threw himself on the teacher to stab her, who was hit in the sternum. When the emergency services arrived on the scene, the victim, aged around fifty, was in cardiopulmonary arrest. She died a few minutes later.
It is therefore within the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz that the tragedy occurred. It is a private Catholic institution under contract which also includes a college. The establishment is located not far from the city center of the town. South West indicates that all entrances to the site have been blocked by the police. There is no longer any danger within the establishment, local media say. A psychological unit has been set up for the students. According to a testimony collected by BFM TV, the establishment is “without history, with very good results, very serious, […] where not a lot usually happens.”
According to the first elements gathered by various media, including theAFP, the assailant is a 16-year-old boy. The public prosecutor of Bayonne, quoted by The Parisian, indicates that the young man is educated in second class and was a student of the teacher. He was quickly arrested by the police. At this stage, the reasons that led him to commit this barbaric act are not yet known. The young man is unknown to the precise police services BFM-TV. The news channel claims that “the teenager suffers from psychiatric disorders, and would have said ‘to be possessed’, after his acting out.” The world confirms that the investigation “is oriented towards taking into account possible psychiatric disorders of the perpetrator.”