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Eight wounded in shooting at school in France’s Grasse

In this image from TV, police cordon off the area as people gather to view the nearby high school, following a shooting in Grasse, southern France, Thursday March 16, 2017. (BFM via AP)

Shooting at a high school in southeastern French town of Grasse has left at least eight people injured, the country's Interior Ministry spokesman says.

Speaking on BFM TV, Pierre-Henry Brandet said on Thursday that one person had been also arrested. 

Another Interior Ministry official told Reuters that three people had been injured, including the school's headmaster.

The incident took place on Thursday when an intruder burst into the Tocqueville high school and opened fire, said a source close to the investigation.

It was too early to say whether the shooting was a terrorist attack, the source added.

However, the French government issued nationwide alert following the incident while local emergency services advised residents to stay at home.

According to education authorities all schools in the town have been locked down.

A police source said one man had been arrested over the shooting and a second was on the run.

Later reports indicated that a teenage student had opened fire on at the high school injuring several people, including the headmaster. The student apparently conducted the attack after watching American-style mass shooting videos, the Interior Ministry said.

Local officials noted that the incident had nothing to do with terrorism, adding that the student, who also carried two handguns and two grenades, was arrested at the school.

The shooting in Grasse comes as France remains in a state of emergency initially imposed in November 2015. 

The emergency rule has already been extended several times, because the French government believes the risk of terror attacks still remains high.

The state of emergency was adopted after terror attacks in and around Paris on November 15, 2015. The assaults, which were claimed by the Daesh terrorist group, left 130 People dead and 350 more injured.


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