Shooting at Aubagne middle school

A 14-year-old boy opened fire with a hunting rifle at the Joseph Lakanal middle school in Aubagne (Bouches-du-Rhône) on October 12, 2026, injuring the school principal and a teacher. The student was placed under custody and held in provisional detention on October 14, following requests from the national anti-terrorism prosecutor.

Charges and affiliations

An investigation was opened for "attempted murder related to a terrorist enterprise" and "terrorist criminal association." The teenager is linked to the True Crime Community (TCC), a movement that glorifies mass killings, imported from the United States.

Misinformation on social media

Several internet users have shared an image of a young man they identify as the student involved in the shooting, writing that he is the "poor high school student" who shot at a principal and a teacher in Aubagne. The image was shared on X by an extreme right-wing account and had over 150,000 views by October 26.

False identification and racist remarks

However, the young man in the photo is not white, leading to racist allusions, with one user stating, "Now we understand why judges asked media not to disclose [his photo]." The image does not show the teenager involved in the shooting at the Aubagne middle school. Instead, it shows Muwaz Ullah, a 21-year-old man convicted of a murder that occurred on January 18, 2024, at the Saint-Lambert station in Montreal, Canada.

Legal protections for minors

Article L513-4 of the Code of Criminal Justice for Minors prohibits the publication of any text or illustration concerning the identity and personality of minors who have committed offenses, whether they are prosecuted or convicted. The text specifies that decisions rendered in public hearing against the minor can be published, but without indicating the name and surname of the minor, even by an initial.

French press law on minors

Article 39 bis of the law of July 29, 1881, on the press prohibits disseminating information relating to the identity of a minor victim of an offense, a minor on the run, a minor who has committed suicide, or a minor abandoned by his parents or those who have custody of him.