Student opens fire at French high school, multiple injured

A 17-year-old student shot and injured several people at a high school in Arras, France on 16 March 2017. The victims included the school principal and at least three students. The attacker, who was of Russian and Chechen origin, also carried grenades. Police arrested him at the scene.

French intelligence services had been watching the suspect since the previous summer. They had used surveillance and phone taps to monitor him. His older brother was later arrested in summer 2019 because police suspected him of helping to plan a separate attack.

School shootings are rare in France. The attack raised questions about whether young people in the country were becoming radicalised, and whether surveillance measures were working well enough to prevent violence.