French police detain pupil, 14, suspected of shooting principal and teacher

French police detained a 14-year-old suspected of opening fire Monday on his head teacher and a teacher with a hunting gun that he hid in a guitar case, wounding both in a rare school shooting, prosecutors said.

A staff member at the Joseph Lakanal Middle School in Aubagne, east of Marseille, disarmed the boy after he fired multiple shots while roaming on two floors of the school, prosecutors said.

Police then took him into custody.

The education minister said the drama highlights the rise of “unbridled violence” in society.

The police department in the Bouches-du-Rhône region of southern France said the suspect’s motive was unknown.

The boy taken into custody is a pupil of the Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, where the shooting occurred, police said.

Aubagne is about 15km (9 miles) east of the port city of Marseille.

The principal and the teacher were hit with ammunition used in 12-gauge shotguns but their injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

No pupils were injured, police and Aubagne’s mayor said. The mayor said mental health counselling was being offered to pupils.

There was no immediate information to suggest that the shooting was in any way connected to protests by high school pupils demanding better-resourced schools that have been shaking France for several weeks.

In a post on X, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said: “This unacceptable act once again highlights the rise of unbridled violence in our society, against which we must all mobilise. In words as well as deeds.”

Gun violence perpetrated by pupils in schools is rare in France. In 2017, a 16-year-old student armed with a rifle, pistols and a small grenade opened fire at a high school in southern France, wounding three students and the principal.

Stabbings by pupils in schools are also uncommon. Last year, a middle school employee in eastern France was stabbed to death by a 14-year-old student during a bag check.

Also in 2025, a 15-year-old student stabbed four other students at a high school in western France, killing one and wounding three others before he was arrested.