14-Year-Old Opens Fire at Aubagne Middle School, Wounding Principal and Teacher

A 14-year-old student opened fire with a 12-gauge shotgun inside the Joseph-Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, Bouches-du-Rhône, on Monday morning around 9:25 a.m. The principal and a 37-year-old teacher were struck by pellets in the lower body; authorities say their lives are not in danger.

The suspect concealed the weapon in a guitar case to enter the building. He fired three to five times in a hallway and on upper floors, at one point aiming at a classroom blackboard with sixth-grade students present. No students were injured.

“Schools, which should be sanctuaries, are today places where one risks one's life.”

The school's principal education advisor (CPE) apprehended the teenager before police arrived and took him into custody. The prefect stated the boy was a third-year student with no prior record of delinquency or radicalization.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez and Education Minister Édouard Geffray traveled to the school Monday afternoon alongside junior minister Sabrina Roubache. Geffray called the attack "inadmissible" and evidence of unchecked violence in society.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally, reacted on X, arguing that insecurity has entered schools which should be sanctuaries. Her comments came on the eve of the anniversary of the killing of teacher Dominique Bernard.

Investigators are working to determine how the minor obtained the hunting weapon and what motivated the attack. A psychological evaluation of the suspect has been ordered.