1 dead, 3 hurt in French private school knife attack (2025)

Students cry and embracing each other at the high school Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides after a knife attack, one student was killed and three other were wounded in Nantes, western France, on April 24, 2025. A student armed with a knife attacked four of his classmates before being subdued by teaching staff, according to information obtained by AFP from a source close to the case. — Photo by Agence France-Presse

A student killed a girl and wounded three other pupils in a stabbing spree on Thursday at a French private school that prompted demands for tighter security in classes after a series of attacks.

The youth — whose identity has not been revealed but who had expressed an admiration for Adolf Hitler — was overcome by teachers after staging attacks in several classrooms, witnesses said.

He was detained by police but hospitalized after a psychiatric examination. The suspect sent a rambling email to other students just before the attacks.

“The psychiatrist who examined the suspect concluded that his state of health is incompatible with the current police custody,” Nantes prosecutor Antoine Leroy told reporters.

In the latest case to shock France, the assailant attacked fellow students with a knife at the Notre-Dame de Toutes-Aides grammar school in the western city of Nantes.

One of the three wounded, a girl, was said to be in critical condition.

President Emmanuel Macron, writing on X, said the courage of the teachers who floored the youth had prevented a higher toll.

“Through their intervention, teachers likely prevented other tragedies. Their courage demands respect,” he said.

Prime Minister Francois Bayrou urged “an intensification of controls in and around schools” following the attack.

He called for a response to the “endemic violence” among some youths and demanded proposals to prevent further knife attacks. Bayrou said secure gates at all schools was a possibility.

AFP spoke with one student who gave an account of what happened.

“I was in the cafeteria with my friends and we were told that a high school pupil had stabbed students in several classrooms,” she said, without giving her name.

“We were told not to leave the cafeteria for about 20 minutes and then we were confined to a gym.”

She added the assailant “was known to be depressed, he said he loved Hitler.”

The suspect sent a long email to other pupils in which he said “globalization has transformed our system into a machine to decompose humanity.” He advocated a “biological revolt” to facilitate a return to “the natural order of things, even if cruel” instead of “globalised ecocide.”

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Site sealed off

The school administration sent a message to the families of the 2,000 students, informing them of the incident.

Students had been immediately confined inside the school, the statement added.

“In coordination with the authorities present, we are organizing the gradual release of students from 3:30 p.m. onwards in accordance with a strict protocol,” the message said.

Worried parents gathered outside the school, which had been cordoned off by police and some French soldiers.

Ludivine, 48, said the attack had happened in her daughter’s class.

“As an anxious mother who doesn’t let her out alone, I never thought anything would happen to her at her school,” she said.

French Education Minister Elisabeth Borne said in February that police would start random searches near schools for hidden knives and other weapons in a bid to deal with the rise in attacks.