A teenager student has been arrested after shooting two teachers at a French school

A student was arrested after the principal and teacher were shot at a school in the south France on Monday morning.

The 14-year-old boy entered Lakanal secondary school in Aubagne “carrying a gun inside a guitar case”, district officials told French media. He then opened fire before being stopped by one of the workers.

No children were injured and the teachers were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, according to Aubagne Mayor Jean-Pierre Squillari.

The Marseille prosecutor’s office said it has opened an investigation into the case of attempted murder.

Local media reported that the incident was thought to be related to ongoing protests over school conditions, citing police sources.

It was later reported in French media that the suspect’s father was also arrested after weapons were found during a search of his home.

A student entered the school in Aubagne – a small town 11 kilometers east of Marseille – with a gun before multiple shots were fired, Bouches-du-Rhône department council president Martine Vassal told reporters.

The head teacher, 53, was reportedly shot in the leg and below, when a 37-year-old teacher was hit on the thigh. The third person is said to have received minor injuries.

Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said a 14-year-old boy suffered head injuries along with another teacher on the first floor.

He then went to the second floor and shot twice, “first in front of the teacher looking down, and the second time inside a crowded classroom, hitting the blackboard,” Bessone said.

“Never again [that] the teacher and the students were injured, although they were very shaken.”

The boy was stopped by a staff member in a school hallway, according to city hall, and then taken into police custody.

“All the students were immediately detained and were safe in seconds,” said Squillari, speaking in his capacity as mayor of the city, in a statement released on social media. A psychological support unit was established on site to provide emergency assistance.

Squillari also spoke to reporters and said: “The children have not seen anything since what happened in the hallway.

“Psychologically, there are many people involved, and those who are depressed are examined by a psychiatrist”.

He said the suspect was a child “like all the others”.

“My father has requested a meeting with the school’s academic advisor, but we don’t know anything more than that,” he told BFMTV.

Two students told BFMTV that the fire alarm went off and when they went outside to climb the stairs, they were told not to go down, but then they came face to face with the suspect.

One of them explained: “He was a meter away, holding his hunting rifle. He shot down.”

“We started to run away, but he followed us for a while. We started screaming.”

The school will be closed to students on Tuesday, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told reporters during a visit to the scene with Education Minister Édouard Geffray.

French President Emmanuel Macron extended “full solidarity and full support” to frightened teachers, students and parents.

“I pay tribute to the politeness and exemplary response of the education team, which enabled them to avoid the worst,” he wrote on social media.

Geffray wrote on social media: “This unacceptable act is yet more evidence of the unstoppable increase in violence in our society, which we must all stand up against.”