An investigation for “assassination” was opened by the public prosecutor of Bayonne after the death of the teacher stabbed by a high school student at Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, this Wednesday, February 22 2023. The suspect was taken into custody.
- 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.
- An investigation for “assassination” has been opened and entrusted to the judicial police of Bayonne but the charge is likely to evolve, said the public prosecutor of Bayonne, this Wednesday afternoon.
- The teenager and alleged perpetrator of the attack 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 state of health of the high school student allowed his placement in police custody and the young man is heard by the investigators this Wednesday, February 22.
- 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
4:50 p.m. – The rector of the Bordeaux Academy pays tribute to an “excellent teacher”
“I had a lot of spontaneous testimonials on my phone. The inspectors said that they knew this teacher who was well established in this establishment, radiant in her work. She was an excellent teacher, who deserves all our admiration, “said indicated Anne Bisagni-Faure, the rector of the Academy of Bordeaux, in front of the press. The teacher had worked for 26 years at the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
16:39 – 90 second-year students taken care of in psychological cells
All the pupils of the second class who witnessed the fatal attack on the Spanish teacher and two other second classes, i.e. a total of 90 high school students, were taken care of by the psychological cells. Long-term follow-up should also be ensured.
4:30 p.m. – The Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school is open this Thursday
The Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin school will be open Thursday, February 23, but the morning could be trivialized according to statements by Pap Ndiaye, Minister of National Education. The rector of the Bordeaux academy has indicated that the reception arrangements could differ, the educational staff have yet to determine them.
4:19 p.m. – A minute of silence in all schools this Thursday
“A minute of silence will be observed tomorrow in all schools in the country at 3 p.m. as well as in SNU centers,” announced Education Minister Pap Ndiaye from Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
16:07 – No reports had been made about the high school student
There had been no “circumstances or reports concerning the high school student”. “There is nothing to predict the occurrence of this terrible tragedy” according to the Minister of Education. The Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school is “very calm, renowned for its seriousness and the serenity of its school climate”, added Pap Ndiaye, dismissing “hasty conclusions”.
16:03 – Pap Ndiaye regrets a “drama of exceptional gravity”
The Minister of National Education Pap Ndiaye recognized a “drama of exceptional gravity which moved the whole of France” and showed “emotion and solidarity with regard to the educational community so cruelly affected”. Describing this Wednesday as a “sad day for National Education and for the establishment”, the minister had a word for the victim who showed during his career “exceptional dedication and commitment to the service of his students”. .
15:59 – An open investigation for murder charge
The public prosecutor of Bayonne indicated that an investigation was opened for the murder chief after the death of the teacher stabbed by a high school student in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The leader can still evolve according to the elements revealed by the hearings.
15:50 – Will the criminal responsibility of the high school student be recognized?
According to information from BFMTV, after his acting out, the 16-year-old high school student would have gone to the neighboring classroom and would have given his weapon to the teacher who was there. It was there that he would have explained that he heard voices ordering him to kill the professor. This version of the facts raises a question: was the suspect conscious or not at the time of the attack? The subject is central since it will determine the possibility of recognizing the criminal responsibility of the individual.
15:39 – Did the high school student have a disagreement with the teacher he killed?
Did the high school student have a dispute with the Spanish teacher he stabbed? Did he just have a motive that would have pushed him to attack the teacher? The investigators seek to determine the intentions and the possible mobil of the teenager during the police custody which is currently in progress.
15:37 – The public prosecutor’s conference organized tomorrow?
The public prosecutor of Bayonne, Jérôme Bourrier, who went to the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, could not speak on this case until Thursday, February 23 according to LCIonce the student’s first day of police custody is over.
15:30 – The deceased teacher was appreciated by the students
What kind of teacher was the woman stabbed by a student? A former high school student who took the teacher’s Spanish lessons recalled to BFM TV of a “very nice” person who was “”quite demanding and hard at work, but fair enough. The man who said he was “shocked” by the knife attack added that he had “never had wind of a story between her and a student where things went wrong”.
15:18 – The high school student from Saint-Jean-de-Luz accompanied during his police custody
In the first hours of his police custody, the high school student from Saint-Jean-de-Luz allegedly responsible for the fatal attack on a professor must be assisted by a lawyer and seen by a doctor. During the hearings, the 16-year-old can be accompanied by his parents if the investigators do not see any inconvenience. It should be noted that police custody must for the time being last 24 hours, before a possible extension of 24 additional hours by decision of the magistrate in charge of the investigation.
15:11 – The mental health of the high school student compatible with police custody
If questions are already emerging around the mental health of the teenager and possible psychiatric disorders, the psychological state of the high school student does not seem to prevent his placement in custody and his hearing by the investigators. The young man would be followed on the psychological level but the existence and the nature of the disorders have not been confirmed.
3:00 p.m. – The high school student arrested “in a not quite normal state”
Upon their arrival, the police arrested the high school student and alleged perpetrator of the attack, who “had been subdued and no longer presented, it seems, any danger”, said Christophe Labarthe, departmental secretary of the union. SGP police, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in LCI. “He didn’t seem to be in a completely normal state either,” he added, echoing the psychological problems the young man would suffer from and mentioned earlier in the morning.
14:50 – Two open psychological cells
These are indeed two medico-psychological cells which were opened after the death of the teacher of the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin high school. One was set up by the department, the second by the rectorate, both must allow the support of students and the educational community. The psychological cells will remain open as long as necessary and the school will not close its doors.
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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.”