CRIMEFRANCE
France mourns after stabbing of schoolteacher
2 hours ago2 hours ago
A moment of silence was held in France to remember the 52-year-old female Spanish teacher killed by her student. The teenage suspected assailant told prosecutors that a voice inside his head told him to commit the act.
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Schools across France on Thursday mourned a teacher who was stabbed to death by a pupil a day prior.
A nationwide moment of silence was held to remember 52-year-old female Spanish teacher Agnes Lassalle, who died at the hands of her 16-year-old student in the southwestern resort town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
The seaside village, located in France’s Basque country, is not far from the Spanish border.
France’s top education official: ‘Time for paying respects’
French Education Minister Pap Ndiaye took part in the commemoration of Lasalle’s life, saying it was a “time for paying respects, emotion and solidarity.” Ndiaye praised Lassalle as a “very dedicated Spanish teacher.”
French President Emmanuel Macron earlier said the nation is by the side of the victim’s family, colleagues and students.
Psychiatrists have been sent to the Saint Thomas d’Aquin Catholic high school where the attack occurred, to help victims mentally process the tragedy.
An emergency psychiatric doctor told the AFP news agency that people at the school were feeling “frustration, exhaustion (and) excesses of emotion.”
Police secure a perimeter following the stabbing at Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school Police secure a perimeter following the stabbing at Saint-Thomas d’Aquin high school
The stabbing left France in shock, as attacks at schools are typically rare in in the countryImage: Gaizka Iroz/AFP
What was the motive behind the attack?
The boy suspected of committing the stabbing is currently behind detained and investigated on the grounds of premeditated murder.
The suspect locked the doors of the classroom during the attack and lunged at his teacher with a kitchen knife. Lassalle was standing at the classroom blackboard when she was attacked.
A 16-year-old girl present during the attack told AFP that the boy said nothing as he committed the stabbing.
French prosecutor Jerome Bourrier said Thursday that the suspect said a voice in his head told him to carry out the attack.
After the act, the suspect yelled “I have ruined my life, everything is finished,” according to Bourrier.
“He also admitted a kind of animosity towards his Spanish teacher, in a subject where he wasn’t getting good grades, unlike his other classes,” Bourrier added.
The student had been receiving psychiatric attention since this past autumn. French authorities still say that the boy was capable of bearing criminal responsibility for the killing.
wd/sms (Reuters, AFP, dpa)
