College killings depart surprised Austria and France looking for solutions

[ad_1] Bethany Bell & Hugh Schofield In Graz and Paris

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1154/live/f6c5d610-477d-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Matej Povse/Getty Images Two women in white T-shirts comfort each other amid a group of people and candles on the ground" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Matej Povse/Getty Photographs The assaults inside two hours of one another in Graz and Nogent have left two international locations in shock

Two surprising assaults inside two hours of one another, in France and Austria, have left dad and mom and governments reeling and at a loss the way to defend college college students from random, lethal violence.

At about 08:15 on Tuesday, a 14-year-old boy from an peculiar household in Nogent, jap France, drew out a kitchen knife throughout a faculty bag examine and fatally stabbed a faculty assistant.

Not lengthy afterwards in south-east Austria, a 21-year-old who had dropped out of faculty three years earlier, walked into Dreierschützengasse highschool in Graz at 09:43, and shot lifeless 9 college students and a trainer with a Glock 19 handgun and a sawn-off shotgun.

In each international locations there's a demand for options and for a better deal with younger individuals who resort to such violence.

Austria has by no means seen a faculty assault on this scale, however the French stabbing happened throughout a authorities programme geared toward tackling the expansion in knife crime.

Austrians ask about gun legal guidelines and a failed system

The Graz shooter, named by Austrian media as Arthur A, has been described by police as a really introverted particular person, who had retreated to the digital world.

His "nice ardour" was on-line first-person shooter video games, and he had social contacts with different players over the web, in line with Michael Lohnegger, the prison investigation chief in Styria, the state the place it occurred.

A former scholar on the Dreierschützengasse college, Arthur A had failed to finish his research.

Arriving on the college, he placed on a headset and capturing glasses, earlier than happening a lethal seven-minute capturing spree. He then killed himself in a faculty toilet.

He owned the 2 weapons legally, had handed a psychological take a look at to personal a licence and had a number of classes of weapons coaching earlier this 12 months at a Graz capturing membership.

This has sparked an enormous debate in Austria about whether or not its gun legal guidelines have to be tightened – and concerning the degree of care out there for troubled younger folks.

It has emerged that the shooter was rejected from the nation's obligatory navy service in July 2021.

Defence ministry spokesman Michael Bauer informed the BBC that Arthur A was discovered to be "psychologically unfit" for service after he underwent checks. However he mentioned Austria's authorized system prevented the military from passing on the outcomes of such checks.

There are actually requires that regulation to be modified.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/6c18/live/f1cee1e0-4856-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Map showing centre of Graz and where the school is located in relations to the railway station, which is over a lot of railway lines and about 4 blocks down." class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Alex, the mom of a 17-year-old boy who survived the capturing, informed the BBC that extra ought to have been performed to forestall folks like Arthur A from dropping out of faculty within the first place.

"We all know… that when folks shoot one another like this, it is principally after they really feel alone and drop out and be exterior. And we do not know the way to get them again in, into society, into the teams, into their peer teams," she mentioned.

"We, as grown-ups, have gotten the accountability for that, and we have now to take it now."

President Alexander Van der Bellen raised the opportunity of tightening Austria's gun legal guidelines, on a go to to Graz after the assault: "If we come to the conclusion that Austria's gun legal guidelines have to be modified to make sure better security, then we'll accomplish that."

Austria has one of the crucial closely armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 folks.

Though there have been college shootings right here earlier than, they've been far smaller and concerned far fewer casualties.

The mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, believes no personal particular person ought to be capable of have weapons in any respect. "Weapons licences are issued too shortly," she informed Austria's ORF TV. "Solely the police ought to carry weapons, not personal people."

French deal with psychological well being in addition to safety

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a14d/live/ea9e31a0-477f-11f0-a596-3f08f468e9b7.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP French gendarmes control the access to a secondary school after a 31-year-old teaching assistant was stabbed with a knife by a 15-year-old pupil during a bag search in Nogent, eastern France, on June 10, 2025" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP Safety was tight on the college in Nogent and the assault happened throughout a bag search

Armed gendarmes had been current on the entrance to the Françoise Dolto center college in Nogent, 100km (62 miles) east of Paris, when an adolescent pulled out a 20cm kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed Mélanie G, who was 31 and had a four-year-old son.

The boy accused of finishing up the homicide informed police that he had been reprimanded on Friday by one other college assistant for kissing his girlfriend.

Because of this he had a grudge towards college assistants usually, and apparently had made up his thoughts to kill one. Faculties had been closed on Monday for a financial institution vacation, and Tuesday was his first day again.

The state prosecutor's preliminary evaluation was that the boy, known as Quentin, got here from a standard functioning household, and had no prison or psychological well being document.

Nonetheless, the kid additionally appeared indifferent and impassive. Adept at violent video video games, he confirmed a "fascination with loss of life" and an "absence of reference-points referring to the worth of human life".

The Nogent assault doesn't match the template of anti-social youth crime or gang violence seen in France till now.

Neither is there any suggestion of indoctrination over social media.

In accordance with the prosecutor, the boy did little of that. He had been violent on two events towards fellow pupils, and was suspended for a day every time.

There isn't any household breakdown or deprivation and college officers described him as "sociable, a reasonably good scholar, well-integrated into the lifetime of the institution".

This 12 months he had even been named the category "ambassador" on bullying.

For all of the requires better safety at colleges, this crime happened actually underneath the noses of armed gendarmes. As Inside Minister Bruno Retailleau put it, some crimes will occur regardless of what number of police you deploy.

For extra data on the boy's way of thinking, we should look ahead to the complete psychologist's report, and it could be that there have been indicators missed, or there are household particulars we don't but learn about.

On the face of it, he's maybe extra a middle-class loner, and his obvious normality suggests against the law triggered by internalised psychological processes, moderately than by peer-driven affiliation or emulation.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/ec14/live/805e8e80-4841-11f0-989a-61187d103dd6.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="AFP A boy hangs flowers on the fence of his school" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> AFP The killing of Mélanie G in Nogent has surprised the entire of France

That's what strikes the chord in France. If an peculiar boy can end up like this from watching too many violent movies, then who's subsequent?

Considerably, the French authorities had solely simply permitted displaying the British Netflix collection Adolescence as an help in colleges.

There are variations, in fact.

The boy arrested for the killing of a teenage woman within the TV collection yields to evil "poisonous male" influences on social media – however there is similar query of youngsters being made weak by isolation on-line.

Throughout the political spectrum, there are requires motion however little settlement on what must be the precedence, nor hope that something could make a lot distinction.

Earlier than the killing, President Emmanuel Macron had angered the fitting by saying they had been too obsessive about crime, and never sufficiently enthusiastic about different points just like the setting.

The Nogent assault put him on the again foot, and he has repeated his pledge to ban social media to underneath 15-year-olds.

However there are two difficulties. One is the practicality of the measure, which in idea is being handled by the EU however is succumbing to countless procrastination.

The opposite is that, in line with the prosecutor, the boy was not particularly enthusiastic about social media. It was violent video video games that had been his factor.

Prime Minister François Bayrou has mentioned that gross sales of knives to under-15s will likely be banned. However the boy took his from residence.

Bayrou says airport-style metal-detectors must be examined at colleges, however most heads are opposed.

The populist proper needs harder sentences for youngsters carrying knives, and the exclusion of disruptive pupils from common lessons.

However the boy in Nogent was not an issue youngster.

About the one measure everybody says is required is extra provision of faculty docs, nurses and psychologists to be able to detect early indicators of pupils going off the rails.