Rennes School Threat: Teenager to Face Trial in May After Knife Incident

A thirteen-year-old teenager arrested on Wednesday in Rennes after bringing a kitchen knife to school and threatening teachers will be tried in May, according to the prosecutor’s office.

The boy’s mother alerted the school on Wednesday after her son, who had initially refused to attend classes, left for school with the knife and stated his intention to “kill your teachers,” prosecutor Frédéric Teillet told Agence France-Presse (AFP), confirming reports from Ouest-France and Télégramme.

“In these conditions, she therefore informed the school and the police, and followed her son without losing sight of him, to the school,” Teillet stated. A school administrator observed the student holding the knife against his thigh before raising it. Police arrived and instructed the teenager to drop the weapon, which he complied with.

The teenager was taken into custody and admitted to the incident, explaining to investigators that the knife blade was in the sheath when he raised it towards the administrator, according to Teillet.

The student is known to social services and has pre-existing behavioral difficulties. He is scheduled to appear before the children’s judge on May 22nd, facing charges of willful violence without inflicting intentional bodily harm (ITT) with a weapon.

A provisional judicial educational measure, including a psychiatric evaluation, has been ordered while awaiting the court appearance, the prosecutor added.