On Monday, 12 October, a 14‑year‑old student opened fire with a shotgun concealed in a guitar case at the Joseph Lakanal middle school in [Aubagne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aubagne), injuring the headmaster and a teacher before being subdued by staff and taken into police custody.
A member of the school staff managed to disarm the boy after he moved across two floors of the building, firing several rounds. Police arrived shortly afterwards and placed the teenager in detention.
Incidents of pupils using firearms in French schools are extremely uncommon.
[Marseille](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marseille) prosecutor Nicolas Bessone said the youngster discharged the weapon once or twice on the first floor, striking the principal and the teacher in the legs with 12‑gauge shotgun pellets. Deputy prosecutor Audrey Jouaneton confirmed the type of ammunition used.
Both victims were taken to a hospital where they received treatment for non‑life‑threatening injuries.
Jouaneton added that investigators have not yet determined a clear motive for the attack.
"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," she said.
The boy proceeded to the second floor and fired twice more, first toward a corridor in front of a teacher and then into a classroom, where the shots struck a teaching board. No additional staff or pupils were hit, though those present were described as "very shocked" by Bessone.
A staff member intercepted the teenager in a stairwell, an act that Jouaneton praised as displaying "extreme courage."
In a post on X, French President [Emmanuel Macron](https://www.elysee.fr/) commended the staff for their "composure and exemplary response," noting they "prevented an even worse outcome."
Mental‑health counselling was offered to the students following the incident.
Authorities said there is no evidence linking the shooting to the recent protests by high‑school pupils demanding better‑resourced schools that have been occurring across France.
The school was not affected by those demonstrations on the day of the attack, according to police.
On X, Education Minister [Édouard Geffray](https://www.education.gouv.fr/) condemned the act, stating, "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."