French anti-terror prosecutors investigate 14-year-old arrested over school shooting

PARIS (AP) — French anti-terror prosecutors opened a judicial investigation on Wednesday into a school shooting that wounded a principal and a teacher, and requested pretrial detention for the 14-year-old suspect.

The investigation covers attempted premeditated murder linked to terrorism, terrorist conspiracy and weapons offenses, the national counterterrorism prosecutor’s office said in a statement. Three investigating judges in Paris will oversee the case.

The teenage suspect acknowledged carrying out Monday’s attack at Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, near Marseille, and told investigators he had been planning it for several months, the prosecutor’s office said. He denied intending to kill.

The boy told investigators he wanted revenge for bullying by teachers and classmates, an allegation prosecutors said had not been corroborated.

Investigators examining his digital accounts found one devoted to reposting extremely violent material, particularly about school shootings, associated with the “True Crime Community.”

Prosecutors described a subculture within that online network that glorifies mass killers and encourages imitation. The boy acknowledged being influenced by the community but denied acting in its name, the statement said.

Prosecutors said the premeditation, use of a firearm inside a school and repeated shots directed at staff supported investigating the attack as terrorism.

According to prosecutors, the boy entered the school with a shotgun hidden in a guitar case. He fired at the principal and a teacher before going upstairs, where he fired into the floor in front of another teacher and then into an occupied classroom.

A staff member who had helped evacuate pupils and colleagues subdued and disarmed him as he came down the stairs.

The principal remains in hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening. The wounded teacher had been discharged, prosecutors said.

The boy had no criminal record. An initial psychological examination did not identify a mental disorder, according to the statement.