The cold-blooded murder of a teacher by her student in the classroom during a lesson has caused shock throughout France.

A 16-year-old knifed and fatally wounded a 52-year-old Spanish teacher while she was lecturing in class at Saint-Thomas Aquinas Catholic High School in Saint-Jean-de-Lys, in the Pyrenees region.

The teenage student then fled to another classroom, where he was calmed down and disarmed by a teacher, before police arrived and arrested him.

The 16-year-old is facing psychological problems. According to information from Liberation, before the attack on the unfortunate teacher, he mumbled unintelligible words and said that he “hears voices inside his head”.

Also, according to sources close to the investigation, the young man claimed that “he has been possessed by a spirit”.

The 16-year-old is being held at the city police station where he will be examined by a psychologist.

Pupils at the school were instructed to close the windows and remain in classrooms for two hours as part of an ‘exercise’. “We were asking what’s going on? Did anyone die? And they didn’t answer us, we found out what happened from social media,” a 15-year-old girl told the newspaper.

French Education Minister Pape Diaget, police and judicial officials arrived at the school, while the government spokesman expressed the French government’s dismay at the tragic incident.