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REPORT: Student Stabs Teacher To Death

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Kay Smythe News and Commentary Writer
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A high school student reportedly stabbed a Spanish teacher to death Wednesday at a French school.

Several reports state that the 16-year-old student entered the classroom at the private Catholic school of Saint-Thomas d’Aquin on Wednesday while the teacher was working with a class, and attacked her with a knife, according to Lemonde. The teacher, who is said to be 52 years old, died of her wounds and cardiac arrest after emergency services arrived at the scene and police arrested the student.

Local reports noted that the student-attacker locked the classroom door behind them and stabbed the teacher in the chest. Police are not investigating the attack as a terror-related incident, as it is believed the student may have been suffering from a mental health issue, the BBC noted.

The incident occurred in the popular vacation destination of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Students at the school were asked to remain at the premises until their parents or a guardian could collect them around lunchtime, suggesting that the attack took place in the early morning classes.

The identities of both parties have yet to be publicly released, but Lemonde reported that the attacker was male and that a “voice” had told him to carry out the attack. (RELATED: Leader Of One Of The Worst School Districts In US Says People Aren’t Qualified Enough To Be Teachers)

France’s Education Minister Pap Ndiaye said he was “extremely upset” by the situation, and was on his way to the scene.

“I can barely imagine the trauma that this represents at a local level and more generally on a national scale,” government spokesperson Olivier Veran stated.

The murder of the teacher is the first to occur in France since a Chechen refugee beheaded a school teacher in October 2020. The attack was linked to Islamic extremism.