A 15-year-old boy killed a fellow pupil and wounded three others in a stabbing attack at a high school in the western French city of Nantes on Thursday, before he was overpowered by teachers, police said.
The student who died was a girl, and the three injured students were boys. Police did not confirm the age or gender of the victims.
Teaching staff subdued the attacker at the Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides, a private Catholic school, before police arrived, a police spokesperson said.
She said there was nothing to indicate a terrorist motive.
Students were held inside the school after the attack but allowed to leave in the mid-afternoon under police protection. Dozens of parents waited outside.
Police did not name the suspect or give any motives for the attack.
The local newspaper said the attacker was dressed all in black and wore a helmet and balaclava. Two knives were found lying next to his belongings, it said.
The suspected attacker, using his email account, had emailed a document to all students in the school in which he painted a bleak picture of society, but had not made any mention of a possible attack.
Police did not immediately confirm the media reports.
