A former teacher armed with a handgun that fires rubber bullets and suffering from paranoia took nearly two dozen people, mostly students, hostage on Thursday, holding them in a classroom at his former school and freeing them unharmed hours later, officials said.
The 33-year-old man, identified as Nicolas Vilpail, was on medication and apparently under the influence of alcohol. He surrendered calmly after holding 23 people -- 21 of them teenage students -- captive for more than four hours, police and local officials said. There were no injuries.
Vilpail had taught at the Colbert de Torcy High School, outside Le Mans, until two years ago, school officials said. He was armed with a gun that fires rubber bullets, police said, adding that the weapon was nevertheless dangerous. He surrendered after hours of negotiations, said Jean-Luc Prigent, a top aide in the local administration.
Education Minister Gille de Robien said Vilpail had resigned, of his own accord, from the national education system in November. It was unclear whether he had taught elsewhere over the past two years.
The minister, who visited the school, said the drama ended peacefully in part because of the calm, responsible behavior of the student captives, aged 16 to 18.
One of two teacher's aides taken captive said Vilpail appeared "calm and terribly depressed."
"His explanations for doing this were incoherent," said the woman, identifying herself only as Celine. "He asked us to call a maximum of journalists with our cell phones."
A crack police intervention squad helicoptered in handled the critical second phase of negotiations that "ended in freedom for the entire group without violence," Prigent told France-Info radio.
The atmosphere during the hostage situation was calm, with students sending text messages and contacting their families by cell phone, Stephane Bouillon, top official for the Sarthe region, told France-3 television.
The school is located outside Le Mans, the city famed for its 24-hour annual car race some 230km southwest of Paris.
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