A female 52-year-old teacher at a Catholic school in France has died after being stabbed by a student who claimed to be "possessed by the devil", AFP and LBC report.
The victim, who worked as a Spanish language teacher at the Saint-Thomas d'Aquin private high school in Saint-Jean-de Luz, southwest France, was attacked by the 16-year-old student at approximately 10:00 on Wednesday morning. The student is reported to have burst into the room while class was in session before stabbing the teacher in the heart.
"I confirm to you that there has indeed been a stabbing and that the victim has died," Jérôme Bourrier, the local public prosecutor, told AFP.
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The student was subsequently arrested and is now in police custody. Upon his arrest, he is reported to have informed the French authorities that he had been "hearing voices" and was "possessed by the devil" at the time of the attack.
After the stabbing, the school's 1,100 students were confined to their classrooms, before being sent home at around 11:30.
Une professeure d'espagnol du lycée Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin de Saint-Jean-de-Luz est morte après avoir été poignardée en plein cours par un élève de sa classe. ▶️ #JT13H pic.twitter.com/7VAdvNStDz
— Info France 2 (@infofrance2) February 22, 2023
French Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye has expressed his condolences for the victim's friends and family on Twitter: "Immense emotion following the death today of a teacher at the Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin High School in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. My thoughts for his family, his colleagues and his students."
