a teacher dies stabbed by a student, an investigation opened for assassination

A teacher is dead, announced the Bayonne prosecutor’s office, after being stabbed Wednesday February 22 in the middle of the morning by a student in the private establishment Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin in Saint-Jean-de-Luz (Pyrénées-Atlantiques ), which brings together a middle school and a high school. According to information from Worldthe terrorist motive is not retained at this stage of the investigation, which is moving towards taking into account any psychiatric disorders of the student.

The 16-year-old perpetrator was arrested and placed in police custody, said Bayonne public prosecutor Jérôme Bourrier, who went there. with other leaders. The teenager used a knife to assault the victim, a 52-year-old Spanish teacher, he said.

He wasn’t “not known to the police or justice services”he added during the press conference held with the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, at 3:45 p.m. “was entrusted to the Bayonne judicial police service. This investigation is qualified as assassination, that is to say, premeditated murder.he specified. “His condition allows custody”assured Mr. Bourrier again, while two sources familiar with the matter spoke to Agence France-Presse (AFP) of a young man holding “incoherent words” and to “proven psychiatric disorders”. The magistrate also announced that he would hold another press conference on Thursday afternoon.

psychological cell

“It’s a sad day for national education”said the Minister. “We were struck by the solidarity, by the dignity. The teachers first asked about their students. This testifies to the strength, the solidity of the educational community of this establishment.”, he said. Mr. Ndiaye announced that a minute of silence would take place on Thursday at 3 p.m. “all schools” from the country. He also pointed out that “the pupils of the second class who witnessed the attack, as well as the pupils of the two other second classes, i.e. in all around ninety pupils, have been taken care of since this morning by a psychological unit ».

“The nation is on your side”reacted the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on Twittersharing his “intense emotion”. “I share the pain of (there) family (of the victim)of his colleagues, of his students, of our teachers who dedicate their lives to transmitting knowledge to future generations”, he wrote. Moments earlier, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she also shared on Twitter, “the shock and pain of the educational community” of this high school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz.

In the afternoon, a student had testified in front of the press. “I did not see him get up, but I saw him facing the teacher, very calm, and he approached her and stuck a large knife in her chest, without saying anything”said the teenager at the exit of the establishment. “I don’t really know this boy, we’re just in Spanish class together, but there was never a problem between him and the teacher in class”she said.

After being confined for about two hours in their classrooms, the students left the establishment at midday, with the exception of those who were in class with the murdered teacher, noted a correspondent of the AFP.

A “valued” teacher

This is the first time that a teacher has been killed in the course of his duties in France since the assassination of Samuel Paty, in the fall of 2020 in Val-d’Oise.

The professor murdered on Wednesday was a member of one of the majority unions in Catholic education, the National Union of Christian Education of the French Confederation of Christian Workers (SNEC-CFTC), specifies in the World the academic secretary of this union, Rudolf Cassaro.

He describes a teacher “very experienced, appreciated by her colleagues and her students, in an establishment where there was no problem with the school climate”. The SNEC-CFTC addresses its “Thoughts with the family and the school community of Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin”, adds the trade unionist. The National Union of Secondary Education of the Unitary Trade Union Federation (SNES-FSU) expressed its “shock and immense pain” on Twitter.

The private establishment under Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin de Saint-Jean-de-Luz contract, which is under the supervision of the diocese, is a “city center establishment, rather affluent”says the press service of the General Secretariat of Catholic Education, joined by The world. The school hosts “600 or 700 students”, adds Philippe Delorme, the general secretary of Catholic education. The Union of staff of private educational establishments under contract with the National Union of Autonomous Unions (SNEP-UNSA) describes an establishment “in the norm”, without ” High pressure “ on the students.

Following the example of Mr. Delorme, the Conference of Bishops of France addressed ” thoughts ” And “prayers” to the educational community of the establishment, in a press release.