A 16-year-old student stabbed his teacher at a Roman Catholic high school in the town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz in southwestern France on Wednesday.

The students scattered in panic after the stabbing, local newspaper Sud Ouest reported. The Spanish teacher, a woman, was 50 years old, Sud Ouest said.

Police arrested a student who told another teacher he was possessed and heard voices telling him to attack the teacher, local media reported.

Education Minister Pap Ndiaye expressed his condolences to the family and friends of the victim.