In Souffelweyersheim (Bas-Rhin),
The neighborhood is usually so quiet. In this small corner of Souffelweyersheim, a town of 8,000 inhabitants in the Strasbourg metropolitan area, several schools face each other a few hundred meters apart.
There a middle school, here a kindergarten and finally two elementary schools, including the Dannenberger building. The latter accommodates CE2, CM1 and CM2 classes. It was in front of this court that an individual stabbed an 11-year-old girl on Thursday, before injuring another aged 6 in a nearby square.
A schoolgirl died after a heart attack
Slightly affected, the two children have since been released from the hospital. But this attack, committed by a thirty-year-old “presenting psychiatric fragilities” according to the prosecution, was the origin of a second tragedy. A student from the neighboring college suffered a heart attack on Thursday, while all establishments were confined by the police while waiting for the perimeter to be secured. The 14-year-old girl died, the Strasbourg rectorate announced this Friday.
Which, inevitably, created a very heavy atmosphere this morning when it was time to return to class. The gendarmes were at all the entrances to the establishments, often in teams of four. And all the conversations revolved around the events of the day before. Like in front of the school where, while the death of their friend was not yet official, students recounted this extraordinary afternoon.
“He saw him go out and put his knife in his pocket”
A little further away, parents came to drop off their child at Dannenberger elementary school, not without admitting a certain “stress”. “Of course it’s stressful, for us and for them,” confirms Bernadette, pointing to her son and one of his friends. “They were one meter from the attacker yesterday, they saw him.”
Theo and Paul support. “He was red, with a brown coat and freckles. At first, we didn’t really know what this gentleman was doing but a friend told us to come when he saw him take out and put his knife in his pocket. The gate was open, he could have entered the school. »
The attacker did not do so, but instead attacked a student who quickly raised the alarm. “She quickly returned to the courtyard and told the director “I’m bleeding, he hurt me”. My daughter was right next door, she’s her best friend,” says another mother, Aurore, who is also still shaken by this affair.
On Thursday, she learned the facts by chance. “My brother-in-law is a firefighter in Strasbourg and called me to find out if the little one was okay. But I didn’t know what was happening. I thought it was her who was injured so I quickly came to school. » When she arrived, she was half reassured. “A dad gave me the identity of the victim and afterwards, I waited impatiently for the children to come out. It was a long time until 4 p.m. »
Indeed, inside, the students were confined to their classroom. “In my son’s class, they were sitting under their chair reading,” says Baptiste. “We were sitting normally but we couldn’t do anything. Many were crying, like me,” remembers Théo. “Not me,” Paul clarifies without feeling very proud.
“I didn’t want to sleep, I was scared”
The two boys admit, they had a bad night. “I didn’t want to sleep, I was afraid,” confides Paul. “I could hear him spinning around in his room when usually it’s a groundhog,” explains Bernadette, Théo’s mother. “We also had to try to put into words what had happened because, like all parents I think, we had a lot of questions,” says Baptiste. “We told them that the person was perhaps feeling unwell and needed to be accompanied. »
“Yes, she talked about it a lot but surprisingly, she took a step back. This morning, she just needed to know that her reference friends were coming,” Aurore continues. “She still wanted to close all the shutters and I too had a look outwards. We didn’t feel at peace,” she continues without being able to stop shedding a little tear. “I was on autopilot since yesterday. That’s the backlash there. I was still telling my daughter yesterday morning that we lived too well in Souffel [Souffelweyersheim]… So it can happen anywhere. »