PARIS (Reuters) -French police were questioning a student who stabbed to death a 31-year-old school assistant on Tuesday as pupils’ bags were being checked outside the gates of a school in Nogent in northeastern France.

The suspect was being held at the gendarmerie of Nogent, the Haute-Marne Prefecture said.

“While watching over our children in Nogent, an educational assistant lost her life, the victim of a senseless wave of violence,” President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X

“The nation is in mourning and the government is mobilized to reduce crime,” he added.

Several media reports said the suspect was a 15-year-old student. Reuters could not immediately confirm this information.

(Reporting by Dominique VidalonEditing by Bernadette Baum)

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