3 people shot, student arrested in French school shooting

PARIS -- A 16-year-old student opened fire at a high school Thursday in southern France, wounding two other students and the principal trying to intervene, officials said.

Police moved into the Alexis de Tocqueville school in the town of Grasse -- the country's picturesque perfume capital -- and arrested the still-armed suspect, identified by the Interior Ministry spokesman as Killian Barbey.

The motive behind the shootings was not immediately clear.

School shootings are rare in France.

A national police official said authorities have no reason to suspect it was terrorism-related and said there did not appear to be any other suspects, although police worked to "remove all doubt."

The principal and two others were hit by bullets, while five more were treated for shock, the police official said. None of the injuries was life-threatening.

The student was arrested in possession of multiple weapons after the attack, a police official said.

Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, who visited the school Thursday, called it "the crazy act of a fragile young man fascinated by firearms. ... We just missed the worst."

Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the suspect was 16 years old, not 17 as police initially reported.

During the attack, some students hid at the school, and others were evacuated.

A police helicopter circled overhead in what is normally a relatively quiet corner of France.

Police cordoned off the area, and worried residents gathered outside in the town, which is 25 miles from the southern city of Nice, site of last year's Bastille Day terror attack that killed 86 people.

A visibly shaken student told BFM TV he heard four shots, then "it was total panic" at his school.