A student kills a teacher at a high school in the French Basque Country

A Spanish teacher in her 50s died this Wednesday after being stabbed by a 16-year-old student at the Saint-Thomas d'Aquin Institute, in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a town in the French Basque Country located in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques department (south-west of France), as announced by the Prosecutor's Office.

The French Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, who has gone to the scene of the attack, has declared that it was "a sad day for national education" and that a minute of silence will be observed in all educational centers in the country this Thursday at 3:00 p.m.

"I can confirm that there was indeed an attack with a knife and that the victim has just died," prosecutor Jérôme Bourrier, who went to the private Catholic teaching center, told the France Presse news agency.

In a subsequent press conference, he has reported that an investigation has been opened for "murder".

At the moment, the identity of the victim or the alleged attacker, who has been arrested, is not known.

He will give more details tomorrow, he added.

The Pyrénées-Atlantiques police prefecture said on Twitter that its forces had gone to the scene.

The events occurred shortly before 10:00 in the morning in that school of about 1,100 students located in the center of the city.

According to the

newspaper , the student attacked the teacher while she was giving a Spanish class to high school students.

The newspaper collects testimonies indicating that, before, the student tried to block access to a door.

Later, “everyone tried to get out through a door that led to another class.

Out of fear, others tried to get out through the windows”, recounted two witnesses.

Other local media point out, based on other student testimonies, that the alleged attacker, already in class, stood up while hiding a bladed weapon wrapped in paper, which he used to stab the teacher in the chest.

The teacher received first aid at the scene, but she did not survive her injuries.

Her death was announced around 11:30 a.m.

The reason for the attack is unknown at this time.

In a press conference, the Bayonne prosecutor specified that the detainee had no criminal record.

According to a police source informed France Télévisions, the student declared during his arrest that he had been possessed and that he had heard voices.

“There was no reason to think that such a terrible tragedy would occur.

It is a quiet school, known for its seriousness and for the serenity of its school climate," Ndiaye told the media.

A psychological support team has been accompanying 90 students since Wednesday morning, she added.

Around noon, the students left the establishment after having been locked up for approximately two hours, according to Agence France Presse.

The government spokesman, Olivier Véran, has sent a message of support to "the entire educational community".

The last time a teacher was killed while performing his duties was on October 16, 2020 in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, in the Paris region.

History teacher Samuel Paty, 47, was beheaded by an 18-year-old Chechen Islamist, sending shock waves across France.

After his brutal murder, thousands of people took to the streets in Paris and other cities across the country to show their support for teachers and demand freedom of expression.

Follow all the international information on