Shooting at Aubagne Secondary School: Second Minor Aged 13 Charged with Complicity
A 13-year-old teenager was charged on Friday with complicity in the shooting at Lakanal Secondary School in Aubagne, linked to the "True Crime Community" movement.
Second Minor Charged in Lakanal Secondary School Case
A 13-year-old boy from northern France was charged on Friday 16 October with "complicity in attempted murder in connection with a terrorist enterprise" and "criminal terrorist association", according to 7sur7.be. He is suspected of having acted as an accomplice to the secondary school pupil who opened fire on 12 October at Lakanal Secondary School in Bouches-du-Rhône.
This is the second minor to be charged in this case, which has been taken over by the national counter-terrorism prosecutor (Pnat). The first suspect, the gunman, had been charged and remanded in custody on Wednesday evening.
The Attack on 12 October
That morning, around 9.20 a.m., a young person entered the school "entirely dressed in black and wearing gloves", according to Pnat. He was concealing a firearm in a guitar case. The attack ended thanks to the intervention of the head of pastoral care, who managed to disarm him.
Judicial Supervision for the Second Suspect
Unlike the gunman, placed in pre-trial detention, the second minor was placed under "judicial supervision comprising in particular the obligation to comply with the conditions of placement in a closed educational centre", a judicial source specified. These measures had been requested by Pnat.
The "True Crime Community" Connection
The two adolescents are said to be linked to the "True Crime Community" (TCC) movement, which originated in North America and is fascinated by mass shootings. Investigators seized digital devices belonging to the main suspect during a search of his home. They uncovered "the suspect's use of numerous social network accounts on Protonmail, Discord, Snapchat and TikTok". One of these accounts was "exclusively dedicated to reposting content related to this community, of extreme violence and particularly relating to school shootings", according to the public prosecutor's office.
A Threat "Marginal" but Monitored
Counter-terrorism prosecutor Olivier Christen noted on Thursday that the TCC sphere constitutes "a point of concern", but represents a threat "totally marginal compared to the rest of the terrorist threat": "the jihadist threat accounts for roughly 88 per cent of the proceedings we handle, including for minors."
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez indicated on Friday for his part that "a few dozen" young people linked to this movement are being monitored by security services. "It is a phenomenon that is growing in France", he said on France 2.
Source: Google News BE FR