Teenager kills teacher in Barcelona high school, armed with crossbow and knife

Barcelona (ACN).- A 13-year old pupil has entered his classroom carrying a crossbow on Monday morning in Barcelona's Joan Fuster High School, located near Meridiana Avenue. The pupil first attacked his teacher and a student who happened to be the daughter of the teacher. Then, he fatally stabbed a substitute teacher who was heading towards the classroom after hearing people screaming. The 4 people wounded are not in a serious condition. The young aggressor has been transferred by the Catalan Police to a psychiatric unit of the Sant Joan de Déu children’s hospital. Some classmates stated he had "a black list" with people who "were hurting him". According to the Spanish Penal Code, any minor under 14 cannot be charged with a crime. A support team formed by psychologists will start working in the school, which has suspended all classes until Wednesday. A farewell ceremony will take place on that day to pay tribute to the teacher killed.

All schools and high schools in Catalonia will hold 5 minutes of silence on Tuesday. The Catalan Government has declared an official day of mourning and has suspended all official events for this Monday and Tuesday. Political parties have suspended their pre-campaign rallies that were scheduled for today and tomorrow for the Municipal Elections taking place in late May. The Catalan Education Minister, Irene Rigau, and the Mayor of Barcelona, Xavier Trias, visited the high school in the morning

Teacher’s death came after the screams of a first attack

On Monday at 9.15am, a 13-year old male student was arriving late at his first class of the morning in a public high school in the Sant Andreu District, a working class neighbourhood of Barcelona. He knocked on the door and the Spanish Language teacher allowed him to enter the classroom. Then, the student showed a home-made crossbow and attacked the teacher, who was injured near her face. Then, he attacked a classmate with a knife, who got injured in her leg when she was trying to help the teacher. This first student injured happened to be the daughter of the first teacher attacked. It is not clear yet whether any of the victims were directly injured by the home-made crossbow.

Another teacher who was in the classroom next door giving a History and Geography lesson heard the screams and ran to see what was going on. He was then stabbed in the abdomen in the corridor by the young teenager, who was also holding a knife as well as the crossbow. The teacher died a few minutes later. Initial information indicated that the teenager killed the teacher with the crossbow but information available later has indicated that the teacher was killed with a knife. According to the Catalan Police – called Mossos d'Esquadra – the teenager had several weapons. The exact cause of the death and the weapon used will be known after the autopsy.

Then the aggressor entered into another classroom and stabbed a 14-year old student in the chest. A third teacher was also injured. None of the four wounded people (2 pupils and 2 teachers) are in a severe condition. The 14-year old victim was transferred to Sant Pau Hospital presents a good prognosis. One of the injured people did not need to be taken to a hospital.

A fourth teacher managed to calm down the young teenager and convince him to stop the attacks, while police was arriving. Meanwhile, the rest of the teachers locked their classroom doors and kept all students inside, until the teenager was taken away by the police.

A bus of the Barcelona Transport Authority (TMB) transferred the students who had witnessed the attacks to the police station in order to listen to their official testimony. Students said that the aggressor was "always" talking about the weapons he was making. Apparently he was also a great fan of 'The Walking Dead' series, in which the main characters kill zombies with crossbows. In addition, other pupils said he had "a black list" of "people who were hurting him", such as a teacher who had given him a bad mark. According to the students, he said "he would kill them".

The aggressor will not go to jail

Taking into consideration his age, the Mossos d'Esquadra transferred the 13-year old attacker to a children’s hospital with a psychiatric unit. Technically speaking, the aggressor was not "arrested", since he is under 14 and no charges can be directly pressed against him. In Spain, no minor younger than 14 can be prosecuted. Therefore, his case cannot be dealt by the Public Prosecution Office, not even by the Public Prosecution Office for Minors. The Catalan Government's Social Services for Children and Teenagers (DGAIA) will take care of him. At this stage, the teenager is already receiving a psychiatric treatment.

In addition, Barcelona Court No. 24 is investigating the case. The aggressor's parents will be investigated and some charges could be pressed against them. In addition, their custody could be withdrawn if they are found to be negligent in their duty to provide previous medical assistance to their child. Besides this, measures to protect the young aggressor will also be taken, in order to prevent any revenge attacks.