Armed teacher took 18 pupils hostage in French school

Armed teacher took 18 pupils hostage in French school

An armed former teacher took 18 pupils and two adults hostage in a school in western France on Thursday, local officials said.

Police surrounded the building as the man held the pupils, a teacher and another adult in a classroom in the secondary school in Sable-sur-Sarthe in western France, a spokesman for the town authorities said.

The hostage-taker made no immediate demands. Police did not say what weapon he was carrying but France Info radio said he was armed with a gun.

The spokesman for the local authorities gave no details about the man other than saying he was a former teacher at the school. France Info said he was aged 33.

The mayor of Sable-sur-Sarthe, about 220 km (140 miles) southwest of Paris, is Francois Fillon, a former education minister, reports the AP.

I.L.