Pascal Rossignol/Portal
After a knife attack at the Lycée Gambetta-Carnot high school in Arras, northern France, on Friday, French police and fire departments secured the area.
ParisCNN –
A teacher was killed and several people injured in a knife attack at a public school in Arras, northern France, on Friday, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
A school staff member is in critical condition after suffering multiple stab wounds, and a second teacher was less seriously injured, BFMTV reported.
The French anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said on Friday that the suspect was being investigated for terrorism.
Following the attack in Arras, “the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation into the following cases: murder in connection with a terrorist initiative; attempted murder in connection with a terrorist initiative; “Association of terrorist perpetrators to prepare crimes against people,” said a statement from the public prosecutor’s office.
According to BFMTV, the suspect is a 20-year-old man of Chechen origin who, according to French authorities, was “actively monitored” in the lead-up to the incident.
The attack happened around 11 a.m. local time (5 a.m. ET) on Friday at Gambetta High School, BFMTV said.
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Pascal Rossignol/Portal
The suspect, a 20-year-old man of Chechen origin, was arrested by police, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
According to a post on X by French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, the attacker was arrested by police.
According to BFMTV, the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” during the attack. His brother was also reportedly arrested.
On Friday afternoon, French President Emmanuel Macron traveled to the public school where the incident occurred and said the attack showed “the barbarity of Islamist terrorism.”
“Almost three years after the murder of Samuel Paty, terrorism attacked a school again, in a context that we all know,” he said, referring to the murder of a high school teacher in a Paris suburb in October 2020.
Macron expressed his condolences to the family of the slain teacher, adding that their courage had “saved many people.”
According to Macron, the Arras prosecutor will hold a press conference in the “coming hours”.
The French police are open