A 16-year-old student has stabbed his Spanish instructor to death in a high school in the French town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
The unfortunate incident was said to have occurred on Wednesday at the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin school.
Speaking on behalf of the French authorities, Olivier Véran who confirmed the news according to BBC, stated that the student has been detained by the police and the district attorney who were at the school.
According to the French publication, Sud Ouest, the assailant barged into the classroom while the Spanish teacher was instructing a class and attacked her.
Local media also reported that the teacher, who was in her fifties, passed away from a heart arrest after rescue personnel arrived at the school.
According to French TV station BFM, the assailant stabbed the instructor in the chest after locking the classroom door.
In a tweet, France’s minister of education, Pap Ndiaye, expressed his condolences to the teacher’s “family, colleagues, and pupils.”
He declared that he would be arriving at the school right immediately.
The student may have had mental health problems, according to local media. They claimed there was no evidence of a connection between the incident and terrorism at this point in the investigation.
Mr. Véran promised support for educators across the nation in the wake of the tragedy during a press conference.
The trauma that this represents, he continued, “I can hardly imagine.”
The school is a private, Catholic institution located close to Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a popular French summer vacation destination.
Students who had been instructed to stay in their classrooms until noon were able to leave the school and many were collected by their parents.