Staff shot at school in France - as pupil detained

French police have detained a 14-year-old pupil after a shooting at a school near Marseille.

The teenage boy taken into custody was carrying a gun and is a student at the Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne, where the shooting took place, police said.

French media said the shooter entered the school with the gun concealed in a guitar case.

A headteacher and a female staff member were shot and wounded with a hunting rifle, local mayor Jean-Pierre ​Squillari said, adding that a school supervisor disarmed the suspect ⁠before police arrived.

"It's a kid who goes to ‌that ⁠school. He entered with a rifle, the investigation will determine how, and fired twice in a corridor toward the ​principal and ​a teacher," ⁠he said.

Both victims were taken to hospital, but neither suffered life-threatening injuries, he added.

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No pupils were injured, police and the mayor said.

The Bouches-du-Rhone police department, in southern France, said the suspect's motive was unknown.

France has been hit by a series ‌of ⁠protests over the state of the country's schools, with ​some of those turning violent, but there was no immediate information to suggest that the shooting was connected.

The school where the shooting occurred on Monday wasn't impacted by the protests, police said.

One student said her maths teacher had played down the sound of the first gunshot ‌blast as ⁠noise from nearby construction works.

Another blast was followed by an alarm, and classes emptied into the corridors.

"We were panicking, we ran," the student said. "There were two ways out: one passage to the sports hall and one passage to go outside. Survival instinct took over and I ran ​towards the outside."

French president Emmanuel Macron issued a response to the shooting in a post on X, commending the "composure and exemplary response of the educational team".

He wrote: "To the principal and the teacher injured this morning in a middle school in Aubagne, to the students and parents in shock, I extend my full solidarity and total support."

Far-right leader ​Marine Le Pen, frontrunner ⁠in the race to replace Mr Macron next spring, said the government was losing control of security in schools.

She said: "Schools, which should be sanctuaries, are now places where people risk their ⁠lives. Insecurity has entered the school. Many pupils and teachers go there with a knot in their stomach."

Edouard Geffray, France's education minister, described the incident as "unacceptable" and said it "highlights the rise of unbridled violence in our society".

(c) Sky News 2026: Staff shot at school in France - as pupil detained