A 14-year-old student opened fire at a middle school in southern France on Monday morning, 12 October, wounding the principal and a teacher as the country struggles with weeks of violent student riots, arson and attacks on school staff.
The shooting happened at Joseph-Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, near Marseille, at around 10am. According to local authorities, the ninth-grade student entered the building carrying a 12-gauge hunting shotgun, reportedly concealed inside a guitar case, before opening fire. The principal was struck in the lower body, while a 37-year-old female teacher was also wounded.
Neither victim suffered life-threatening injuries, and no children were harmed in the incident. A school staff member reportedly managed to disarm and restrain the pupil before police arrived. The suspect was immediately detained, while authorities established a crisis centre and arranged psychological assistance for pupils.
The motive remains unknown. Aubagne Mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari described the suspect as an apparently quiet pupil, revealing that his father had recently requested a meeting with teachers. Whether a personal grievance or disciplinary dispute played a role remains unclear. Police said there was no evidence connecting the shooting to the nationwide student protests, noting that the school had not been affected by blockades.
The Monday shooting nevertheless comes as increasingly violent riots sweep across France. The protests initially began over teacher shortages and deteriorating school conditions but were soon overtaken by the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) and its extremist proxies, whom the government accuses of exploiting the unrest.
Just a day before the shooting, LFI presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon held a major campaign rally before approximately 10,000 supporters in Clermont-Ferrand, bringing two student protesters onto the stage to demand a ‘general mobilization’.
Marine Le Pen on X (formerly Twitter): “À la veille du triste anniversaire de l’assassinat de Dominique Bernard et à quelques jours de celui de Samuel Paty, le principal d’un collège d’Aubagne et une enseignante ont été blessés par les tirs au fusil de chasse d’un collégien.J’apporte tout mon soutien aux victimes et… / X”
À la veille du triste anniversaire de l’assassinat de Dominique Bernard et à quelques jours de celui de Samuel Paty, le principal d’un collège d’Aubagne et une enseignante ont été blessés par les tirs au fusil de chasse d’un collégien.J’apporte tout mon soutien aux victimes et…
The school itself had already witnessed serious violence against its leadership. In December 2023, another 14-year-old pupil allegedly punched the principal in the face and threatened to kill him, warning that he would ‘end up like Samuel Paty’, the French teacher murdered by an Islamist terrorist in 2020. No connection to the current shooting has been established.
Marine Le Pen, presidential candidate for the right-wing National Rally, condemned the shooting, warning that French schools, which should be ‘sanctuaries’, had become places where pupils and teachers fear for their lives. ‘Insecurity has entered the school,’ she declared, invoking the approaching anniversaries of the murders of teachers Dominique Bernard and Samuel Paty. ‘Security is the foremost of freedoms. We will restore it to the French people,’ she pledged.
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