Emmanuel Macron has condemned what he called a “senseless wave of violence” after a 14-year-old pupil fatally stabbed a teaching assistant at a school, reports The Guardian.
The 31-year-old woman died in hospital after she was stabbed during a bag search at the start of the school day outside a middle school in Nogent, in the Haute-Marne department in north-east France.
The French president wrote on social media: “While protecting our children, a teaching assistant lost her life, the victim of a senseless wave of violence … The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilised to reduce crime.”
The education minister, Élisabeth Borne, said she was on her way to Nogent “to support the entire school community and the police”. She wrote on social media: “I commend the composure and dedication of those who acted to subdue the attacker and protect the students and staff.”
The 15-year-old suspect, who was overpowered by gendarmes and is in police custody, was not previously known to police. Education officials told Agence France-Presse he “appeared to be a student at the school”.
The teaching assistant received several knife wounds. About 300 pupils at the school were locked down inside at the time of the boy’s arrest.
In March, French police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags in and around schools.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.