A French headmaster, hailed as a hero for intervening in an attempted school shooting last month, was on Thursday presented with the Legion of Honour (Legion d’Honneur).
Herve Pizzinat, headmaster of the secondary school in the southern town of Grasse, was shot in the arm when he tried to reason with the 17-year old pupil, who was armed with a pump action rifle and several handguns.
Three other pupils also suffered wounds but there were no fatalities.
The suspected shooter was arrested when police rushed to the scene and is under investigation along with a suspected accomplice, also a teenager.
Speaking after Education Minister Najat Vallaud-Belkacem presented him with the Legion’s ribbon and medal, Pizzinat said he was deeply moved, not least “because it has been possible to award it to me alive and not posthumously”.
“You are gathered here before a living headmaster, not his coffin, and that’s already something,” he added.
Vallaud-Belkacem repeated her praise for his rapid intervention, saying: “What you did in hampering the sick plan of that young man was absolutely an act of heroism.”