Grasse — A teenager opened fire at his high school in southeastern France on Thursday, wounding up to four people, in an attack apparently inspired by videos of US mass shootings such as Columbine, officials said. The incident in Grasse, which does not appear to be linked to militancy, comes with France on high alert after more than 230 people were killed in the past two years by attackers allied to Islamic State (IS). "It was total panic," Achraf, a student in the school, said on BFM TV. "The gunshots were at 4m to 5m from where we were. We thought the gunman was coming towards us. We heard him shouting." France’s education minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem visited the scene in Grasse, a town known for its perfume industry, and said the attack appeared to be "a crazy act by a fragile young man fascinated by firearms". "His motivations seem to be linked to bad relations he had with other students in school," Grasse prosecutor Fabienne Atzori told reporters. With a presidential electio...

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