Thursday, a man born in 1995 attacked two little girls with a knife in front of their school in Souffelweyersheim, a town near Strasbourg. The alert having been given, the students of the surrounding schools were confined, while waiting for the police to intervene and secure the area.
It was at this time that a schoolgirl in 4th grade at the Sept Arpents college in Souffelweyersheim, a college close to the school where the knife attack took place, suffered a heart attack. The college teams immediately provided him with first aid and called the SAMU who transported him to the Hautepierre emergency room in serious condition. We learned this morning from the rectorate that the young girl, aged 14, died late Thursday afternoon.
“There is no perfect solution”
“We have implemented the containment procedure. The teachers did it in an extremely precise and rigorous manner and unfortunately this schoolgirl experienced an episode of very strong stress which resulted in this cardiac arrest,” said rector Olivier Faron. “These are well-established procedures, we work very closely with the prefecture, we were present on site extremely quickly. There is no perfect solution and we will analyze in depth what happened. If there are lessons to be learned, we will learn them. But the teachers really did what was necessary,” he said.
“We are devastated, speechless,” declared Georges Schuler, the mayor of Reichstett (Bas-Rhin), the town where the schoolgirl lived. “There is an ongoing investigation, I cannot tell you whether this young girl had a heart condition or not.”
The primary school and middle school reopened their doors this Friday morning, with a reinforced presence of the gendarmerie. “The mobile security team of the rectorate is present with many members and the medical-psychological emergency unit is also present, with many psychiatrists and psychologists,” said rector Olivier Faron. “The day will be dedicated to listening and showing solidarity to try to overcome what is a terrible ordeal.”
The college will also be open on Monday, the first day of the school holidays, to offer reception and a listening service to families who request it.