“It’s going to be a tough day. » She didn’t sleep well. So much so that barely after saying a few words, the secretary of the Hautes-Ourmes college had difficulty holding back her tears. On Wednesday, she was not present when a 12-year-old schoolgirl brandished a knife and threatened a teacher at this school in the Blosne district of Rennes. This Thursday morning, however, she insisted on coming early, very early, to “talk, understand”, despite the cancellation of classes. “I was particularly shocked by what happened. For everyone, it was a shock. For the students, staff and teachers… I was a little afraid to come back,” says the secretary. On Wednesday evening, the schoolgirl who took out the impressive knife was hospitalized, with doctors judging that she represented “a potential danger to herself”. As for the teacher, she was not injured, but she is “extremely shocked” to have been threatened in this way, according to her relatives.
This Thursday, classes were suspended in this establishment which accommodates 700 students from 6th to 3rd grade. “A specific reception” was set up for the adolescents who were closest to the events. A psychological cell was also opened. But there were few of them who appeared in front of the white gate of the college this morning. “I can’t get over it. I’m not necessarily afraid but I have difficulty understanding. It’s traumatic to see that a student can arrive at school with a knife,” testifies a young student who was present at the time of the incident. Louise engages: “It was extremely shocking. We stayed locked in the class for a bit and then we came out.” Anna-Louisa was in a room next to the class when her classmate brandished a 17-centimeter blade. “We heard screaming and then right after, I heard cries for help. There were people who said that a student had pulled out a weapon,” the teenager explains calmly. It was her mother who informed her that classes had been canceled this morning. “I hesitated to come, because I am a little traumatized. But I needed to talk about it, to be between us. »
In the ranks of the students, everyone was trying to understand how a 12-year-old child could have brought a weapon into the establishment. According to the Rennes public prosecutor, the student who brandished the knife was particularly agitated during the screening of an educational film. The English teacher reportedly took the time to sit down next to her when she heard her student whisper: “I’m crazy today, I want to kill someone today, the students who don’t don’t like me and the person in front of me. It happened in Arras and I want to do the same.” She then allegedly took out her weapon, without using it.
“She was often alone, she hid under her hood”
The psychiatric examination ordered on Wednesday concluded that the schoolgirl was “dangerous to herself”. She was hospitalized in a specialized environment. Enrolled in 5th grade, the student was known to suffer from behavioral and communication disorders. She had been excluded from Chalais college at the start of the year. “She was sometimes aggressive with other students,” testifies a teenager. “She was often alone, she hid under her hood. She didn’t seem bad but she wasn’t liked by everyone,” adds another.
As if overwhelmed by the scale of the affair, the students still seemed groggy this Thursday. Among parents, however, the concern was becoming more pressing. “This story is horrible. It scares me to think that a child could come with such a knife. I think they should search the bags at the entrance. I would be more reassured,” says this mother of four children. Her friend agrees. “My children came home, they were banging on the door. They were scared. »
Classified in REP + (priority education network), the establishment does not have a bad reputation. Certainly, the Blosne district in which it is located is a known place for drug trafficking and wakes up from time to time to the sound of gunshots. But his college is not neglected. “I have four children and they have all been to Hautes-Ourmes. I’ve never had a problem here. The children are comfortable and the teachers are great,” says this mother, saddened to see the reputation of the college deteriorate. It is currently unknown when classes will resume at the college. Maybe as early as Friday. In a very special atmosphere.