BARCELONA — A 13-year-old boy armed with a crossbow and a machete killed a substitute teacher and wounded four other people at his school in Barcelona on Monday, police said.
The unidentified student was detained by police as a suspect in the attack, which also injured two other teachers and two students. Authorities said the boy, who was undergoing a psychiatric examination, will not face criminal charges because he is under the age of 14.
The attack, which took place around 9.30 a.m., sowed terror in the high school in a working class neighborhood of Spain’s second-largest city.
‘‘We were just starting the class and suddenly we heard screams,’’ said student Gemma Jarque. ‘‘So we shut ourselves inside our classroom in order to be safe.’’
A student, Paula Amayuelas, said the boy ‘‘didn’t have problems but he was kind of a loner. . . . Other students would pick on him.’’
Parents and students gathered and hugged each other in stunned silence outside the school for students ages 12-16.