French school shooting: Two injured in Grasse attack

[BeyondGeography]

Source: BBC

A shooting at a school in the southern French town of Grasse has injured at least two people, police sources say.

One man has been arrested but another suspect is on the run, they say.

A man carrying several weapons attacked the Tocqueville school during the morning. Anti-terrorist commandos from the elite Raid force are at the scene, says the French news channel BFMTV.

The government sent out a warning of a terrorist attack via its mobile app.

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39292755

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The person arrested is 17

Grasse town hall described the incident as between two students and said it was not terror related.

Christian Estrosi, president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region around Grasse, told France Info radio the headmaster had been injured but his injuries were not life-threatening.

Le Monde reported that the suspect who was arrested was a 17-year-old pupil at the high-school. He was arrested at the school armed with several weapons and grenades. The paper said it was not clear whether those weapons were all operational.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/16/school-shooting-in-french-town-of-grasse-sparks-terror-alert

[BeyondGeography]

2. Thanks for the update

[Recursion]

3. Troubling. That used to be confined to Germany and Finland

I'd hate to see that spread across Europe like it has in the US

[Eugene]

4. Student 'fascinated by firearms' wounds four in French school shooting

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS | Thu Mar 16, 2017 | 3:22pm EDT

Student 'fascinated by firearms' wounds four in French school shooting

By Matthias Gallante and Emmanuel Jarry | GRASSE, FRANCE

A teenager opened fire at his high school in southeastern France on Thursday, wounding up to four people, in an attack apparently inspired by videos of U.S. mass shootings such as Columbine, officials said.

The incident in Grasse, which does not appear to be linked to militancy, comes with France on high alert after more than 230 people were killed in the past two years by attackers allied to Islamic State.

"It was total panic," Achraf, a student in the school, said on BFM TV. "The gunshots were at 4 to 5 meters from where we were. We thought the gunman was coming toward us. We heard him shouting."

France's Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem visited the scene in Grasse, a town known for its perfume industry, and said the attack appeared to be "a crazy act by a fragile young man fascinated by firearms".

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-shooting-idUSKBN16N1LI