The teenager who opened fire at the Joseph-Lakanal secondary school in Aubagne on Monday, 12 October, wounding the headteacher and a teacher, has been formally charged and placed in pre-trial detention, the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (Pnat) announced late on Wednesday, 14 October.
The 14-year-old pupil admitted “the material facts” of the attack but denies “having intended to kill those targeted,” according to his lawyer.
Teenager Admits Being Influenced but Shows No Remorse
During questioning, the boy acknowledged having been “influenced” by a movement fascinated by mass killings, but expressed no regrets while in police custody, the Pnat said.
His lawyer, Fabrice Giletta, told reporters that his client “contests the intent to kill, stating that he had taken care to aim at areas that were not lethal” — details already disclosed by the anti-terror prosecutor.
“This day was long and gruelling and ended before the judge of freedoms and detention, as was to be expected, with my client’s incarceration,” Giletta said outside the courthouse.
How the Attack Unfolded
At around 9:25 a.m. on Monday, the pupil, enrolled in the final year of lower secondary school, opened fire from the first floor of the building, targeting the headteacher and a teacher standing beside him in the hall, according to Marseille deputy prosecutor Audrey Jouaneton.
The teenager then climbed to the second floor, where he opened fire again, aiming at the whiteboard of a classroom occupied by pupils and a teacher. He was disarmed by the school’s chief education adviser before he could cause further injuries. He was then arrested and taken into custody.
Links to the True Crime Community
From the outset of the investigation, a link was established between the boy and the True Crime Community (TCC). The prosecutor’s office defines the TCC as “a virtual network built on the sharing of podcasts, articles, websites, alternative social networks and publications, whose members are fascinated by murders and their perpetrators.”
A search of his parents’ home uncovered the use of “numerous social media accounts” which, according to a preliminary analysis, “revealed probable adherence to the True Crime Community,” the Pnat said.
In custody, the teenager admitted having been “influenced” by the community but denied “having carried out his action in the name of the TCC.” He instead cited a “desire for revenge over harassment by his teachers and classmates” — allegations not corroborated at this stage of the investigation.
A fellow ninth-grade pupil who encountered the teenager during the shooting reported that he said: “I only came for the teachers, not the pupils. Anyway, teachers are a pain.”
A ‘Disturbed’ Pupil
“What is striking is the premeditated nature of it. We are dealing with a young person who organised his journey. He had time to reload several times,” Education Minister Édouard Geffrey said.
After announcing the charges, the prosecutor’s office said a psychological examination conducted during custody “did not conclude that there was any psychiatric pathology.”
“That is too quickly said,” Giletta countered, arguing that “the investigation will also aim to dig deeper into this aspect through expert assessments.” He added: “What we can say today is that this is a 14-year-old minor who is becoming aware of the objective gravity of the acts committed.”
A Solitary and Isolated Profile
Few details have emerged about the teenager’s personality, but testimony gathered by several media outlets from classmates points to a rather solitary, even isolated, profile.
One pupil told AFP the boy was “disruptive, had lots of interactions but didn’t care… He didn’t obey teachers.” Another pupil told RTL of his school-related distress: “It was obvious, he was fed up with school. He was often excluded from classes, he didn’t like school.”
Classmates Younès and Kenzo told Le Parisien that their fellow pupil was regularly summoned to the headteacher’s office and faced a risk of expulsion. Younès also mentioned his passion for video games, particularly Call of Duty, a first-person shooter in which the action is experienced through the eyes of the main character. According to testimony gathered by franceinfo, the teenager “had already shown he had weapons, that he smoked, that he took drugs…”
According to AFP, the suspect’s father had an appointment with the school’s chief education adviser at the end of the week. A former soldier and shooting enthusiast, he owned several hunting rifles, all of which he claims were stored in a locked cabinet, La Provence reported. The teenager, who is French, has Ethiopian origins through his mother and two older brothers. “This is a family that has never drawn attention to itself,” the source added.
