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Assailant Opens Fire at High School in Southeastern France Student, 17, Opens Fire at High School in Southeastern France
(about 1 hour later)
PARIS — A shooting occurred on Thursday at a high school in the city of Grasse in southeastern France, according to French news reports and local authorities. PARIS — A heavily armed student burst into a high school in southeastern France on Thursday fired at the headmaster and injured two students, officials said.
The BFM TV news channel, citing anonymous police sources, reported that an intruder carrying several weapons had burst into the Lycée Alexis de Tocqueville in Grasse and opened fire on the headmaster. Pierre-Henry Brandet, a spokesman for the French interior minister, told the BFM TV news channel that the student, who is 17, was arrested shortly after the school, the Lycée Alexis de Tocqueville in Grasse, about 20 miles west of the seaside city of Nice.
One person was arrested and at least two people, including the principal, were wounded, according to the news channel. Grasse is about 20 miles west of the seaside city of Nice. News of the shooting quickly captured national attention in France, where school shootings are rare and where authorities are still on high alert following a string of terrorist attacks. Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux met meet with Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve on Thursday afternoon to discuss the shooting in Grasse and a letter bomb at the International Monetary Fund office in Paris. Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem was scheduled to visit the school later on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the Grasse town hall said, citing local police officers, that the assailant appeared to be a student and that he was with an accomplice, also a student. The two appeared to have attacked the headmaster, the spokeswoman said. One was arrested and the other was on the run, she added. Mr. Brandet said that the suspect was not known to French police or intelligence services and was “very heavily armed,” but he cautioned that it was still unclear whether all the weapons were functional.
A spokeswoman at the prefecture for the Alpes-Maritimes, the administrative department that includes Grasse, said that a “serious” event had occurred at the school, but said she was unable to provide details. “He opened fire with a long firearm and wounded the headmaster,” Mr. Brandet said, adding that there were at least eight people were lightly wounded, although he said some of them might have been hurt in the tumult that followed the shooting.
The police said on Twitter that an operation in the area was continuing. “It is obviously too early to say what this individual’s motivations were,” Mr. Brandet added.
The French authorities sent out an alert about a situation in Grasse through a government-run smartphone app created to warn people of possible terrorist attacks occurs nearby. Citing information from local police officers, a spokeswoman for the Grasse town hall said the assailant appeared to be with an accomplice — also a student — who fled.
Mr. Brandet also said the police were searching for a “potential” accomplice, but that it was not yet clear that the gunman had been with one.
The French authorities quickly sent an alert about a situation in Grasse through a government-run smartphone app created to warn people of possible terrorist attacks or natural disasters nearby.
“Intervention underway by the security forces and emergency services,” the warning read. “Do not put yourself at risk.”“Intervention underway by the security forces and emergency services,” the warning read. “Do not put yourself at risk.”
The Twitter account for the civil protection emergency services in the Alpes-Maritimes warned people to “stay at home” and called for “caution and calm.” Police officers quickly cordoned off the area around the school.
The superintendent of schools for the Nice area said on Twitter that students in Grasse were safe, and he asked parents not to rush to schools. Emmanuel Ethis, the superintendent of schools for the Nice area, said on Twitter that students in Grasse were safe, and he asked parents not to rush to schools, where students had been confined inside.