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CRIME

Five family members found dead in France

Three children and their parents have been found dead at their home near the northern French city of Lille, a local prosecutor said late Wednesday.

Published: 22 October 2015 09:46 CEST
Five family members found dead in France
Forensic police and emergency services workers stand outside the house where the family was found. Photo: AFP
The bodies of a six-month-old boy, his four-year-old brother and 10-year-old sister along with their mother, 40, were found in their beds at the two-storey home in a residential neighbourhood, about seven kilometres west of Lille.
   
The father, 42, had hanged himself and left a note, dated October 16th, explaining his actions, local  prosecutor Frederic Fevre told AFP.
   
“He spoke of being in debt and major financial difficulties,” said Fevre.
   
“We can't exclude the possibility that at least one of (the family) were suffocated,” he added.
   
Police sealed off the house and were investigating the tragedy.
   
Christelle, a neighbour, told AFP that the family had only lived in the area for “around a year”.
   
“This is a very calm and residential neighbourhood, the children often rode their bikes and scooters on the pavement,” she added.
   
According to another source, the family had not been seen for several days.    
 
An aunt and a childminder sounded the alarm and were taken for psychological counselling after rescue workers discovered the five bodies.
 

CRIME

French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school

A 14-year-old girl has died of a heart attack in eastern France after her school locked down to protect itself from a knife attacker who lightly wounded two other girls, an official said on Friday.

Published: 20 April 2024 08:58 CEST
French teen dies from heart failure after knife attack near school

The teenager “was rescued by teachers who were very fast to call the fire department. She died at the end of the afternoon,” education official Olivier Faron said.

The girl’s middle school in the village of Souffelweyersheim closed its doors on Thursday afternoon after a man stabbed two other girls aged 7 and 11 outside a nearby primary facility.

“Sadly this pupil underwent an episode of very high stress that led to a heart attack,” Faron said.

A mother outside the middle school on Friday morning said her son in first year of secondary had also been scared during the lockdown the previous day.

“Whereas in the primary school they made it more like a game, perhaps here it was a little too direct,” Deborah Wendling said.

“He thought there was an armed person in the school. They could hear doors slamming, but in fact it was just other classrooms locking down.”

Faron defended the teachers.

READ ALSO: Schoolgirl threatens teacher with knife as tensions rise in French schools

“There is no perfect solution,” he said.

But “we will analyse in depth what happened. If there are lessons to be taken from this, we will take them.”

The two girls hurt in the attack were discharged from hospital on Thursday evening with only light wounds.

Police have arrested the 30-year-old assailant, and a probe has been opened into “attempted murder of minors”, the prosecutor’s office said.

It was not immediately clear what had motivated him, but it did not appear to be “a terrorist act”, it said.

He was “psychiatrically fragile” and appeared to have stopped his medication.

The incident follows a series of attacks on schoolchildren by their peers, in particularly the fatal beating earlier this month of Shemseddine, 15, outside Paris.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Thursday announced measures to crack down on teenage violence in and around schools.

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