Aubagne School Shooting: 14-Year-Old Targets Staff Over Girlfriend Breakup

A 14-year-old student is currently in police custody in southern France, accused of shooting his school principal and a teacher with a shotgun. The incident, which took place at the Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne on Monday, October 12, reportedly stemmed from the boy's recent breakup with his girlfriend.

According to prosecutors, the teenager concealed the shotgun in a guitar case before opening fire. After discharging multiple shots across two floors of the school, a quick-thinking staff member managed to disarm the boy, who was then taken into custody by the police. Such acts of gun violence perpetrated by students within French schools are considered rare.

Marseille prosecutor Nicolas Bessone confirmed that the pupil fired one or two shots on the first floor, striking the principal and a teacher in their legs. Marseille deputy prosecutor Audrey Jouaneton and police reports indicate that the victims were hit by pellets from a 12-gauge shotgun. They were subsequently transported to a hospital, where their injuries were determined not to be life-threatening.

Jouaneton stated that the boy's exact motives remain unclear. She noted, "We still don’t have sufficiently precise evidence to say that he wanted to target the teaching staff — this principal and the teacher — but they were in any case hit by the shots.” The assailant then proceeded to the second floor, firing twice more – once at the floor in front of a teacher and another time at a teaching board inside a classroom. Fortunately, no teachers or students were directly hit during these subsequent shots, although those present were described as “very shocked.”

The boy's rampage was brought to an end when a staff member intercepted him in a stairwell, an act Jouaneton commended as displaying “extreme courage.” French President Emmanuel Macron also took to X (formerly Twitter) to praise the staff’s “composure and exemplary response,” crediting them with preventing a more severe outcome. Following the incident, mental health counseling services have been made available to the students.

Police clarified that there is no immediate indication linking this shooting to the ongoing high school student protests across France, which demand better-resourced schools. The Joseph Lakanal middle school was not affected by these protests on the day of the shooting. Education Minister Édouard Geffray, also via X, remarked that “this unacceptable act once again highlights the rise of unbridled violence in our society, against which we must all mobilize. In words as well as deeds.”