MARSEILLE/PARIS: A second person was held on Friday over a shooting at a French school where a heavily armed teenager opened fire, wounding 14 people, most of them hurt in a stampede triggered by the shooting, a source said.
A brother of a friend of the 16-year-old attacker was in custody, the source said.
The shooter, who was described by investigators as unstable and obsessed with guns, surrendered to police after Thursday’s attack in the southeastern town of Grasse.
He was found in possession of a rifle, two handguns and a grenade. A source close to the investigation said on Friday that the weapons belonged to his parents and grandfather.
The attacker who had troubled relations with his peers had opened fire at the high school on Thursday. Police moved into the Alexis de Tocqueville school in the town of Grasse — the country’s picturesque perfume capital — and quickly arrested the still-armed suspect, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman as Killian Barbey.
The government minister for victims’ affairs, Juliette Meadel, told BFM television there were 4 people shot — three students and the high school principal — and 10 other victims.
The Grasse prosecutor said some of the victims were suffering from “emotional shock.” None of the injuries was considered life threatening.
Prosecutor Fabienne Atzori said the young man — armed with a rifle, several pistols and a small grenade — entered a classroom then left, “not finding the person or people he was searching for.”
“The motivation of the student appears linked to bad relations with other students in this high school in which it appears he had some difficulty integrating,” Atzori said.
She said there was no reason to suspect the shootings were terrorism-related, “whatever the origin of the terrorist enterprise.” A national police official said earlier there did not appear to be any other suspects.
Investigators were now trying to find out where the suspect got the arms, she said. Officials variously gave 16 and 17 as the age of the suspect. His Facebook page indicates he is 16.
After the suspect started shooting, students alerted the principal, who was wounded while “courageously” intervening, the prosecutor said. Some students only discovered shrapnel in their bodies once home, she said.
Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who visited the school Thursday, called it “the crazy act of a fragile young man fascinated by firearms ... We just missed the worst.”
The suspect’s Facebook page is filled with violent or gory images.
The attack came amid France’s state of emergency, a response to a string of deadly extremist attacks over the past two years.
While no terrorism link has been identified, “all this justifies the state of emergency,” President Francois Hollande said, adding that it would remain in place until July 15, as planned.
A brother of a friend of the 16-year-old attacker was in custody, the source said.
The shooter, who was described by investigators as unstable and obsessed with guns, surrendered to police after Thursday’s attack in the southeastern town of Grasse.
He was found in possession of a rifle, two handguns and a grenade. A source close to the investigation said on Friday that the weapons belonged to his parents and grandfather.
The attacker who had troubled relations with his peers had opened fire at the high school on Thursday. Police moved into the Alexis de Tocqueville school in the town of Grasse — the country’s picturesque perfume capital — and quickly arrested the still-armed suspect, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman as Killian Barbey.
The government minister for victims’ affairs, Juliette Meadel, told BFM television there were 4 people shot — three students and the high school principal — and 10 other victims.
The Grasse prosecutor said some of the victims were suffering from “emotional shock.” None of the injuries was considered life threatening.
Prosecutor Fabienne Atzori said the young man — armed with a rifle, several pistols and a small grenade — entered a classroom then left, “not finding the person or people he was searching for.”
“The motivation of the student appears linked to bad relations with other students in this high school in which it appears he had some difficulty integrating,” Atzori said.
She said there was no reason to suspect the shootings were terrorism-related, “whatever the origin of the terrorist enterprise.” A national police official said earlier there did not appear to be any other suspects.
Investigators were now trying to find out where the suspect got the arms, she said. Officials variously gave 16 and 17 as the age of the suspect. His Facebook page indicates he is 16.
After the suspect started shooting, students alerted the principal, who was wounded while “courageously” intervening, the prosecutor said. Some students only discovered shrapnel in their bodies once home, she said.
Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who visited the school Thursday, called it “the crazy act of a fragile young man fascinated by firearms ... We just missed the worst.”
The suspect’s Facebook page is filled with violent or gory images.
The attack came amid France’s state of emergency, a response to a string of deadly extremist attacks over the past two years.
While no terrorism link has been identified, “all this justifies the state of emergency,” President Francois Hollande said, adding that it would remain in place until July 15, as planned.
