A teacher was stabbed to death in southwestern France on Wednesday by a 16-year-old student who claimed he heard voices encouraging him to carry out the bloody task.
The violence unfolded inside a classroom at the Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin Catholic private school in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, near Bayonne, according to the local newspaper La Dépêche. The victim, identified only as a 52-year-old woman, was giving a Spanish lesson when a student whipped out a knife and attacked her.
She died of cardiac arrest shortly after emergency services arrived at the school, BBC reported.
The teen meanwhile fled to the classroom next door, explained what had just happened and turned over his weapon.
The prosecutor of Bayonne confirmed the student’s arrest and Education Minister Pap Ndiaye is slated to head to the school later Wednesday.
Ndiaye said the nation was feeling “intense emotion” after the stabbing and offered his condolences for the “family, colleagues and students” of the victim. He said a moment of silence would also be observed in the teacher’s honor.
A top government official, speaking anonymously because he was not allowed to discuss the matter, said a preliminary investigation carried out by police suggests the attacker has severe mental health issues. According to several local media outlets, the suspect said he heard voices telling him to slaughter the Spanish teacher.
He has not been identified.
“It’s a shock,” lawmaker Vincent Bru told Reuters of the attack, adding that it “does not seem to have any terrorist cause at all.”