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13-year-old schoolboy kills teacher in Spain, cannot be arrested due to age

Hair

A 13-year-old was being held by police today after allegedly killing a teacher with a crossbow at a school in Barcelona and injuring four others.

The teenager is said to have fired at a female teacher with the home-made weapon before targeting a pupil who turned out to be her daughter.

A substitute teacher who had only been working at the high school for a fortnight was killed when he heard shouting and screaming and went to investigate.

It was initially reported he had been struck in the heart with an arrow fired from the crossbow, although later reports said he had been stabbed with the tip of the weapon.

The youngster, reported to have entered the Joan Fuster Institute dressed in combat-gear, was also thought to have been carrying a large knife described by one source as a machete.

He was today being held at the school ahead of a medical examination by health experts.

Police confirmed he cannot be formally arrested or tried for his alleged crimes because he is under 14 which is the age of criminal responsibility in Spain.

A source close to the investigation said it was thought the youngster, who classmates said had bragged about killing all the teachers at his school before committing himself, may have suffered from a psychotic breakdown.

They said they didn’t report him because they thought he was joking.

Respected Spanish daily El Periodico reported the youngster, identified only by his initials M.P.C, had Nazi symbols on his desk and had put at least 25 teachers and pupils on a death wish-list of teachers and pupils he planned to target.

The crossbow he is said to have used in the attack was said by leading daily El Mundo to have been made out of wood and pens.

He went on the attack after arriving late for school just after 9.15am, targeting the female language teacher after knocking on her door before turning to her daughter.

A spokesman for the regional Mosses d’Esquadra regional police said in a statement released around midday: “We have identified a minor on suspicion of the death of a teacher at a school in Barcelona.

“The incident happened inside the school about 9.15am when the minor allegedly attacked the teacher with a sharp object.

“During the incident four people were slightly injured, two female teachers and two pupils.

“Three of them have been transferred to hospital and one of them, a female teacher, was treated at the scene.

“Police are investigating the incident.”

A spokesman added: “I can confirm the boy identified as the alleged attack is under the age of 14 and therefore cannot be arrested or face a criminal accusation. That’s why we are saying only that he has been identified.”

The boy’s sister, a pupil at the school in Barcelona’s Sant Andreu district, was also being questioned by police at the state-run educational centre along with his parents.

One classmate described her as “a lovely person” but said her brother “did strange things.”

Barcelona mayor Xavier Trias went to the school after being informed of what had happened.

A teenage pupil, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told a Spanish TV station: “We heard shouting and a pupil came running into our classroom warning us to run because a boy was on the loose with a knife covered in blood.

“At that moment the boy rushed in. He had a face like a madman as if he was looking for someone.

“We huddled in the corner and when he left we ran out into the playground and saw a girl with blood on her knees and a teacher lying motionless on the floor as we fled.

“We stayed in the playground. We were very frightened. We’ve heard the attacker had planned it all and wanted to attack the people who he didn’t get on well with.”

The attack has similarities with the killing of Ann Maguire, 61, in April last year.

William Cornick, 15 at the time, knifed the much-loved Spanish teacher in front of horrified classmates in a Leeds classroom after she banned him from a school bowling trip after he failed to do his homework.

He was jailed for a minimum of 20 years last November after admitting murder.

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