French student stabs teacher in classroom, says he was 'possessed’

A Spanish female teacher died after he was stabbed by a student in a school in the south-west French town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz on Wednesday.A French government spokesperson, Olivier Véran, said the attacker is a 16-year-old boy.

Local media reported that the perpetrator entered the classroom while the Spanish teacher was giving a class around 10 am.

Startled students immediately fled the class after the. It is reported that the assailant used a knife to attack the teacher.

French newspaper Sud Ouest said that the teacher was in her fifties and died of cardiac arrest after emergency services arrived at the school.

Authorities have cordoned off the school where the attack took place and an investigation will follow. The motive of the attack is unclear at the moment, police said, adding that the student may have been suffering from mental health issues.

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Moreover, there was no suggestion that it was a terror-related incident.

According to French news channel BFMTV, the accused, during interrogation, told officers that he was possessed and heard voices that instructed him to attack the teacher.

Meanwhile, France's Education Minister Pap Ndiaye in a tweet expressed his condolences and said that his thoughts were with the teacher's "family, colleagues and pupils".

He added he was on his way to the school "straight away".

French government spokesperson Véran in a press conference said that the government would support educators across the country in the wake of the incident.

"I can hardly imagine the trauma that this represents," he was quoted as saying, according to BBC.

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