A French police officer in the northern suburbs of Paris opened fire and killed an attacker on June 19 who assaulted a cleaning worker with a screwdriver and also injured another police officer, police said.

The cleaning worker suffered “several blows” with the screwdriver, but the extent of the injuries wasn’t immediately clear, police said.

A police officer who sought to intervene also suffered an arm injury, police said.

Another officer then opened fire, killing the attacker, police said.

Police said they had no other immediate information about the attack in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers, including about the attacker’s gender or possible motives.

An 18-year-old pupil was detained in western France on Monday after stabbing his English teacher in the face and fleeing, authorities said.

The teacher from the town of Chemille-en-Anjou in western France “suffered a facial injury that is not life-threatening”, said a joint statement from the authorities including the prefect and public prosecutor.

Law enforcement officers could be seen in front of the Lycee de l’Hyrome where the attack took place on Monday morning, according to an AFP photographer at the scene.

Speaking to reporters, public prosecutor Eric Bouillard ruled out “any religious or radical motive”, adding that the suspect expressed feelings of “unhappiness.”

According to the prosecutor’s account, the pupil attacked the teacher during class after a break.

He “grabbed the teacher from behind and stabbed her in the face, causing panic in the classroom,” he said.

After the attack the suspect quickly left through the window, abandoning his knife, according to the authorities. He was detained by gendarmes and municipal police.

Bouillard said the pupil did not seem to have any grievances against the teacher, he added.

Bouillard said that while the teacher was hit in the cheek and her injury was minor “the psychological impact” will be “much greater”, Bouillard said.

The young man had been a pupil at the school for three years and returned there Monday after an absence due to illness. Fellow pupils said he appeared in a good mood on Monday morning.

‘Deeply shocked’

The suspect bought the knife last week, the prosecutor said.

“He saw this knife and bought it, knowing that he was going to do something with it,” he said, adding that the pupil complained of “too much pressure.”

Officials said the young man was not previously known to the police, adding that counselling was provided to pupils and teachers after the attack.

An investigation into “attempted murder” has been launched.

Education Minister Nicole Belloubet said she was “deeply shocked and outraged”.

“My thoughts are with the victim and the entire educational community”, she added on X.

France has in recent years been shaken by a series of school incidents involving attacks on teachers as well as schoolchildren by their peers.

In April, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced measures to crack down on teenage violence in and around schools, as the government seeks to reclaim ground on security from the far-right ahead of upcoming European elections.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A French police forensics member collects evidence after officers shot dead an armed man earlier who tried to set fire to the city’s synagogue in Rouen, France, on May 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

French police shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who is suspected of having set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen early on May 17, authorities said.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on the social media site X that the armed individual was “neutralized.”

“In Rouen, national police officers neutralized early this morning an armed individual clearly wanting to set fire to the city’s synagogue. I congratulate them for their reactivity and their courage,” he said.

National police said the officers were alerted early Friday morning that smoke was rising from the synagogue and came face to face with the man when they got there. The national police information service said the man surged toward officers with a knife and a metal bar. An officer opened fire and fatally wounded the man, police said.

Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said the man is thought to have climbed onto a trash container and thrown “a sort of Molotov cocktail” inside the synagogue, starting a fire and causing “significant damage.”

“When the Jewish community is attacked, it’s an attack on the national community, an attack on France, an attack on all French citizens,” he said.

“It’s a fright for the whole nation,” he added.