A wave of panic swept through a high school in Jerez de la Frontera, in the south of Spain, this Thursday morning, around 8:25 a.m. In this small town about thirty kilometers from Cádiz, a 14-year-old teenager attacked five people with a knife in his school. This afternoon, the police are still around the school and classes have not resumed. 20 minutes make the point.
What happened this morning in Cadiz?
Classes had started barely ten minutes ago when a 14-year-old student took out two knives and stabbed classmates as well as his biology teacher, according to several student testimonies. He then went to a neighboring classroom to beat other teachers there. The police quickly intervened within the establishment, alerted by students. “The police located him on the third floor, he had the two knives in his possession,” said Adrian Dominguez, a police spokesperson. Controlled, the student was taken to a police station.
“I saw the guy with two knives and with a look on his face saying he wanted to stab everyone,” one schoolboy told Canal Sur television channel. “He ran to the back (of the class), left his backpack on the floor and took out the knives before shouting ‘I’m going to kill you’ (…) We are in shock,” said another on La Sexta. And the teenager added: “He was running after people, everyone went out into the playground. »
What is the human toll?
In total, five people were affected, two teenagers and three teachers. The regional head of Education, Patricia del Pozo, said that four of the five injured were treated in hospital. The only serious injury, a teacher, hit in the eye, will have to be operated on, she continued. A student was hit in the shoulder, and “my physics and chemistry teacher received a blow to the head,” a student tells the daily El País. The students, who were able to leave the establishment around noon, will be able to benefit from psychological support, assures the mayor of the city.
What is the profile of the attacker?
“We do not know the causes” which pushed this teenager to make such a gesture, indicated the regional president of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno. No argument broke out before the attack, assures the daily El Mundo. The student was not known to be unruly but he was “often alone,” said Adrian Dominguez, a police spokesperson.
However, a previous incident between the attacker and other students was mentioned, without the theory of harassment being put forward. As the teenager is aged 14 – the age of criminal responsibility in Spain – he could be prosecuted.
What are the reactions?
Describing the situation as “dramatic”, the mayor of Jerez de la Frontera, Maria José Garcia-Pelayo, said that “all the parents were outside the establishment and wanted to be able to hug their children”. “We are all upset,” she continued, very moved. Juanma Moreno, for her part, admits to having been “fearful” because the situation could have been “much more serious”.
“We must launch a collective reflection on the role that violence plays in all areas: television, cinema, (video) games, in the social sphere (…) on social networks,” insisted this leader of the large party of the Spanish right, the Popular Party. “This invites us to urgent reflection for our society (…) this news informs us of a serious situation currently and of an equally difficult perspective for the future,” added the secretary general of the Episcopal Conference, Mgr. Francisco César Garcia Magan.