Far-Right politician’s son held after school shooting
THE teenage son of a far Right French politician launched a gun attack on his own school yesterday wounding three people including his headmaster.
Kylian Barbey, 17, opened fire at the Lycee Alexis de Tocqueville in the town of Grasse on the French Rivierra.
Herve Pizzinat, the head of the school, and two pupils identified only as Julie, 16, and Akram, 17, were injured.
Five others were slightly hurt in the rush to escape.
Mr Pizzinat was thought to be the main target, with the two students hit by ricocheting bullets.
Barbey – who is said to be obsessed by US high school shootings – was arrested by police.
His politician father, Franck Barbey, then tweeted: “Heartfelt support for the director, the teachers, the staff, the pupils, and the parents of pupils.”
Mr Barbey is an elected municipal councillor for the hard-Right Rally for France Party, which fights globalisation, European federalism, and immigration.
Barbey was carrying a shotgun, two revolvers and a backpack containing fake grenades when he burst into the main building of his school soon after 1pm yesterday.
“It was total panic,” said a student identified as Achraf. “I know the gunman by sight. He was gentle not a nasty guy.”
The attack was “a crazy act by a fragile young man fascinated by firearms,” French Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said.