The widower of a murdered teacher in France dances in front of her coffin to say goodbye

She was stabbed to death by a student on February 22 in San Juan de Luz. He dismissed her at the funeral with an emotional dance.

Pictures of the professor’s widower Agnes Lassalle they traveled the world. And it is that this weekend, the funeral held in his honor in Sainte Eugénie de Biarritz, in the French Basque Country, became an exercise in optimism and vitality.

In the rhythm of the French version Look at that, by Nat King Cole, the widower of a 52-year-old Spanish teacher started dancing. The first solo, in which it was their last dance together. Then friends and family of the couple joined in the emotionally charged scene.

L’image du jour: l’hommage dansé du compagnon d’Agnès Lassalle et de ses amis à l’enseignante, en sortant de la Cérémonie d’obsèques (?@F3euskalherri ) #saintjeandeluz pic.twitter.com/8P43nsjvWS

— France 3 Aquitaine (@F3Aquitaine) March 3, 2023

Spanish teacher Agnès Lassalle died on February 22 after being stabbed by a 16-year-old student. The events took place at the Santo Tomás de Aquino Institute in San Juan de Luz. It is a private center that has a high percentage of students from Irún and Hondarribia. The teacher spoke in the middle of the room, where the tables were arranged in a “u”. No words, TM, a 16-year-old boy stood up with an object in his hand. “He took it out of his backpack, it was something he wrapped in a handkerchief,” said his companions. The young man went to the hall door, locked it and started towards the teacher. – He walked calmly towards her – they claimed. It was fifteen to ten in the morning. There are only fifteen minutes left until the end of the hour. TM stopped behind Lassalle, who was writing something on the board, and tapped him on the shoulder. The teacher turned and saw what she had in her hand. Then he screamed. The young man raised his hand and gave his teacher a stabbing in the chest. – It was a big butcher’s knife. The woman took a step back and fell to the ground. She died an hour later despite attempts to revive her. The teacher suffered a stab wound to her sternum and nothing could be done to save her life.

After committing the crime, the teenager remained standing looking confused. His classmates then ran out of the class terrified by what they had just witnessed. The attacker then entered the next class. Two female teachers asked him to throw away the gun that the teenager had left on the ground. “I ruined my life, it’s over”He said.

“A still small voice spoke to him”

In his first questioning, the student assured the police that “someone” had taken over his body and that he had been addressed by a “voice, a being he described as selfish, manipulative, self-centered, inciting him to do evil, and that the day before he would suggest that a murder be committed “, said the prosecutor.

Lasalle was “a very involved teacher in her school, unanimously respected and loved by her colleagues and students,” explained Jérôme Bourrier, Bayonne’s prosecutor, at a press conference the day after the event. Agnés loved her work and her students. She was demanding, but fair, the students say.