Update (0844 EST): According to William Molinié, terrorism has been ruled out as a motive for the attack and the suspect used a 10cm king knife.
Professeure poignardée par un élève au lycée Saint-Thomas d'Aquin (Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Pyréenées-Atlantiques) : profil du suspect et piste terroriste écartée. Les dernières informations de William Molinié, du service police/justice d'#Europe1 dans #EuropeMidi pic.twitter.com/Df4ME6Fu9k
— Europe 1 ??? (@Europe1) February 22, 2023
At approximately 0430 EST, reports began to emerge of a stabbing at the Saint Thomas d’Aquin Middle School in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France.
?Incident en cours au lycée Saint-Thomas d’Aquin de Saint-Jean-de-Luz #SJDL.
Les forces de police sont sur place. Le @procBayonne a été saisi.
Le @Prefet64, le procureur et la rectrice se rendent sur place. pic.twitter.com/1ey7Uv9XS5— Préfet des Pyrénées-Atlantiques (@Prefet64) February 22, 2023
By 0530 EST, local media confirmed that a teacher at the school had been fatally stabbed and emergency services failed to resuscitate them. The teacher was reportedly giving a lecture in Spanish when the attacker burst into the room and stabbed the fifty-year old to death in a targeted attack. The attacker is a sixteen year old male student.
“I can confirm that there was indeed a knife attack and that the victim has just died,” prosecutor Jérôme Bourrier told French media.
No motive has been released regarding the attack, but French National Education and Youth of France Minister Ndiaye has arrived on scene and is expected to make an announcement.
Immense émotion suite au décès aujourd’hui d’une professeure au lycée Saint-Thomas-d’Aquin à Saint-Jean-de-Luz. Mes pensées pour sa famille, ses collègues et ses élèves. Je me rends sans délai sur place.
— Pap Ndiaye (@PapNdiaye) February 22, 2023
According to AFP: “ This is the first time that a teacher has been killed as part of his job in France since the assassination of Samuel Paty in the fall of 2020 in Val-d’Oise. In July 2014, a 34-year-old teacher was stabbed to death by the mother of a student at a school in Albi.”
