French teen shoots two teachers at Aubagne school after hiding gun in guitar case

A school shooting on Monday, 12 October 2026, at a secondary institution in Aubagne sent students sprinting through bloodied hallways after a 14-year-old pupil opened fire with a hunting shotgun concealed inside a guitar case. The attack at Joseph-Lakanal middle school wounded two educational staff members and immediately drew top government ministers to the site, compounding mounting anxiety over security in French classrooms.

According to Latin Times, the suspect walked into the school grounds carrying the weapon hidden inside the guitar case, bypassing the entrance undetected. The Winnipeg Free Press reported that the boy roamed across two floors of the building, firing multiple rounds. Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone outlined that the pupil first discharged his weapon on the first floor, striking the 53-year-old headteacher in the hip and lower back, and wounding a 37-year-old female teacher in the thigh. A third individual was grazed by gunfire but required no hospital treatment, as detailed by Latin Times and BBC reports.

Media additions

The gunman then moved to the second floor. As Winnipeg Free Press noted, the teenager fired toward the floor in front of a teacher and subsequently shot inside an occupied classroom, hitting the chalkboard. While no one in the classroom was struck by the projectiles, students and staff suffered severe psychological shock. A school supervisor intervened in a stairwell, physically wresting the shotgun away in an act praised for its extreme courage before police formally detained the 14-year-old suspect.

Witness accounts captured the immediate panic inside the building. One student told Yahoo News that a mathematics teacher initially played down the first bang as construction noise before the alarm sounded and corridors filled with fleeing children. Another witness speaking to the BBC described coming face-to-face with the shooter in the hallway as he pointed the hunting rifle toward the ground.

Authorities moved quickly to address the fallout. According to the BBC, both of the suspect's parents were taken into custody after weapons were uncovered during a search of the family home, a detail confirmed by Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. President Emmanuel Macron took to social media to extend solidarity to the victims and praise the educational team's composure. Education Minister Édouard Geffray and Interior Minister Nuñez traveled directly to the scene, with Geffray stating on X that the incident highlighted an unacceptable rise of unbridled societal violence.

The shooting unfolded against a tense backdrop of nationwide student protests over deteriorating school infrastructure and teacher shortages. However, police and local officials emphasized that Joseph-Lakanal middle school was not participating in the blockades. Yahoo News noted that police union representatives and municipal authorities found no direct link between the shooting and the wider protest movement.

The incident echoes past trauma in French education. As Latin Times documented, schools have previously been rattled by fatal attacks, including the 2023 stabbing of teacher Dominique Bernard in Arras and the 2020 beheading of Samuel Paty outside a Paris suburb. While gun violence by pupils remains uncommon compared to stabbings, Monday's events have intensified political debate over campus security.

Local authorities announced that the school would remain closed to pupils on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, while an emergency medical-psychological cell was activated on site to assist shaken children and staff, according to the BBC. The Marseille prosecutor's office continues its formal investigation into attempted murder and the suspect's underlying motives.