A 12-year-old schoolgirl threatened a teacher with a knife during class in western France today, who was not injured, prompting authorities to launch an “attempted murder” investigation.

“According to the first evidence gathered,” “a student, born in 2011 in Marseille (south) went to class armed with a large knife, with the intention, apparently, to kill her English teacher,” the prosecutor says of Rennes (west) Philippe Astrick, in a press release.

“During the lesson, he started brandishing the knife at the victim, who ran away. She followed the victim before school staff disarmed her. There were no injuries,” the prosecution clarifies.

An investigation has been launched into attempted murder against a person entrusted with a public service mission.

A girl told AFP, speaking in front of the school, that there had been an argument between the 12-year-old and the teacher, who had confiscated her mobile phone last Friday.

The incident unfolded two months after the murder of Dominique Bernard, a French teacher who was stabbed to death in Arras (north) on October 13, 2023.