Bethany Bell & Hugh Scofield
In Glaz and Paris
matej povse/getty images
Two countries were shocked by attacks within two hours on Graz and Nogent
Two shocking attacks in France and Austria have caused parents and governments to shake up, losing ways to protect school students from random, deadly violence.
Around 8:15 Tuesday, a 14-year-old boy from a normal family in Norgent, eastern France, pulled out a knife while checking his school bag and fatally stabbed his school assistant.
Soon in southeastern Austria, 21, who dropped out of school three years ago, walked to Graz’s Drierschüt Zengasse High School at 9:43, shooting nine students and teachers with cell phones and saws.
Both countries have demands for solutions and are focusing more on young people who rely on such violence.
Austria has never seen school attacks on this scale, but French stab wounds have been made during a government program aimed at tackling the growth of knife crime.
Austrians ask about gun laws and systems failures
Glaz’s archer, named Arthur A by the Austrian media, is described by the police as a very introvert who retreated into the virtual world.
His “big passion” is an online first-person shooter game, where he had social contact with other gamers on the internet, according to Michael Ronegagar, director of criminal investigations in Styria, the state where it happened.
A former student at Arthur A.’s Drierschüt Zengasse School was unable to complete his study.
Upon arriving at school, he wore a headset and shot the glass, then a fatal seven-minute shooting. He then committed suicide in the school bathroom.
He legally owns two guns, passed a psychology test to own a license, and trained several weapons training at the Graz Shooting Club earlier this year.
This sparked a major debate in Austria about whether gun laws need to be tightened and the level of care available to troubled youths.
It was revealed in July 2021 that the shooter was denied the country’s forced military service.
Department of Defense spokesman Michael Bauer told the BBC that Arthur A was found to be “psychologically inappropriate” for service after taking the test. However, he said the Austrian legal system is preventing the Army from taking over the results of such tests.
We are currently seeking that law to be changed.
Alex, the mother of a 17-year-old boy who survived the shooting, told the BBC that more should have been done to prevent people like Arthur A from dropping out of school in the first place.
“We know… when people shoot each other like this, it’s mostly when they feel lonely and go outside and we don’t know how to bring them back into society.
“We, as adults, are responsible for it and we have to take it now.”
President Alexander van der Belen raised the possibility of closing down Austrian gun laws when he visited Glaz after the attack.
Austria is one of Europe’s most armed civilians, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people.
There were school shootings here, but they were much smaller and there were far fewer casualties.
Glaz mayor Elke Carr believes that a personal person should not be able to carry any weapons at all. “A weapons license is too fast,” she told ORF TV in Austria. “The police should carry weapons, not individuals.”
The French focuses on mental health and security
Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP
Nogent’s school had strict security and attacked while searching for bags
There was an armed gender guard at the entrance to Françoise Dort Middle School, Nogent, 100 km (62 miles) east of Paris, when the teenager pulled out a 20cm knife and repeatedly stabbed Melanie G, who had a 31-year-old son.
The boy accused of committing the murder told police he was responsibly replied Friday by an assistant at another school for kissing his girlfriend.
As a result, he generally had grim towards his school assistants and apparently decided to kill them. The school was closed on Monday for bank holidays and Tuesday was his first day.
The initial assessment by the state prosecutors was that the juvenile, known as Quentin, came from a normal, functional family member and had no records of crime or mental health.
However, the child seemed isolated and emotionless. Adept at violent video games, he exhibited “the charm of death” and “the lack of reference points related to the value of human life.”
The Nogent attacks do not fit the template of antisocial youth crime and gang violence seen in France up until now.
There are no proposals for indoctrination for social media.
The boy did little by little, according to the prosecutors. He was violent twice against his fellow students and was suspended for one day each time.
There was no family breakdown or deprivation, and school officials described him as “sociable, a pretty good student and well integrated into the life of the facility.”
This year he was named the “ambassador” class on bullying.
For all demands for greater security in schools, the crime was literally committed under the nose of armed gender moose. As Home Minister Bruno Reciro said, there will be some crimes that will happen regardless of the number of police you deploy.
For more information about the boy’s mental state, we must wait for a full report from a psychologist. There may be details of family members that are missing the signs or they may not know yet.
In the face of it, he is probably a more middle class loneliness, and his obvious normality suggests crimes caused by internalized mental processes rather than peer-led associations or emulation.
AFP
Mélanie G’s murder in Nogent surprised the whole of France
That’s what strikes French chords. If an ordinary boy can turn out like this after watching too many violent videos, who is next?
Importantly, the French government only approved the UK’s Netflix series adolescents as aid to schools.
Of course, there is a difference.
The boy arrested for murdering a teenage girl in a television series has the effect of evil “toxic men” on social media, but the same question comes from the fact that teenagers are isolated and vulnerable online.
The entire political spectrum calls for action, but there is little agreement on priorities.
Before the murder, President Emmanuel Macron had angered their rights by saying they were obsessed with crime.
Nogent’s attack put him on his hind legs, and he repeated his pledge to ban social media from under the age of 15.
However, there are two difficulties. One is the practicality of the measure, which is theoretically addressed by the EU, but succumbing to infinite procrastination.
The other is that the boy had no particular interest in social media, according to the prosecutors. What belonged to him was a violent video game.
Prime Minister François Bylow said that the sale of knives to those under the age of 15 will be prohibited. However, the boy took him out of the house.
Bayrou says airport-style metal detectors should be tested at school, but most heads disagree.
Populist rights want more stringent sentences for teenagers carrying knives and the elimination of destructive students from regular classes.
However, the Nogent boy was not a problem child.
The only measure that everyone is needed is to find a greater supply of school doctors, nurses and psychologists to detect early signs of students falling off the rails.
Of course, that would require a lot of money. This isn’t very common in France.
