French police detain teen pupil suspected in school shooting in which 2 were wounded

AUBAGNE, France — French police detained a 14-year-old suspected of opening fire Monday on his middle school principal 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. Aubagne is about 15 kilometers (9 miles) east of the port city of Marseille.

Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said in a statement that the pupil fired once or twice on the first floor, wounding the principal and the teacher in the legs. They were hit with ammunition used in 12-gauge shotguns, police said. They were transported to a hospital with injuries that weren’t life threatening, the prosecutor said.

The boy then went to the second floor and opened fire again, twice, he said.

No pupils were injured, police and Aubagne's mayor said. The mayor said mental health counseling is 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.

The middle school wasn't impacted on Monday by the protests, police said.

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 mobilize. 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.