The La Courneuve high school student suspected of having stabbed one of his classmates will be presented to a judge for “attempted voluntary homicide”

The 20-year-old high school student suspected of having inflicted "several stab wounds" on one of his classmates on Thursday, in La Courneuve (Seine-Saint-Denis), will be presented to an investigating judge for "attempted voluntary homicide", announced Saturday, November 7, the Bobigny prosecutor. The victim, aged 16, was notably injured in the chest, but was able to leave the emergency room the same day after two stitches were placed. The total incapacity for work resulting from these injuries was set at five days.

Arrested Thursday morning, the suspect “was referred this morning [Saturday] to the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office, at the end of his 48 hours in police custody,” declared prosecutor Alexandre de Bosschère. “A judicial investigation into the charge of attempted intentional homicide, against the injured victim as well as two other minors present, and of carrying a category D weapon” was opened, he said.

“Contradictory explanations”

The prosecution requested placement in pre-trial detention. According to testimonies, the suspect, who admitted the facts but "disputed any homicidal intent", would have in fact tried to strike other people, without succeeding. The events occurred during the blockade of the Denis-Papin vocational high school in La Courneuve. According to the prosecution, the author of the stabbings "gave contradictory explanations about their origin, evoking in particular a feeling of threat".

He also spoke "on several occasions" of "his psychological disorders", reported the prosecution, stressing that a "possible alteration of discernment due to psychological disorders, particularly of a bipolar nature, was noted". The search carried out at his parents' home, where he lives, "revealed the consumption of narcotics and medication", but "did not provide any information on the motivations of the author", according to the prosecutor's press release.