A sword-wielding 17-year-old youth took around 20 nursery children and their teacher hostage at a pre-school in France yesterday.
The teen, who was armed with two swords, locked the children and their terrified teacher into the Charles Fourier pre-school in the town of Besancon.
He released 14 of the children early in to the stand-off, but kept four others and their teacher locked inside for around three hours.
The rest of the school was evacuated while officers from the GIGN police force worked with trained negotiators to bring the siege to an end.
Police negotiated with him inside the school and released the children without injury.
Jean-Marc Magda, the manager of Besancon mayor Jean-Louis Fousseret's office, eventually announced 'the hostage-taking is over'.
He told reporters the youth was known to suffer from depression and psychological problems.
He said: 'He has personality disorder. Contact has been made with his doctor.'
The children's families are being offered psychological and medical assistance.
Terrifying! Can you imagine?