Hostage crisis

On 9 March 2006 at 2:30 p.m. . A 33 year old former high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 teacher in Sablé-sur-Sarthe

Sablé-sur-Sarthe

Sablé-sur-Sarthe, commonly referred to as Sablé, is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in west France.-Geography:...

, Sarthe

Sarthe

Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, took 23 people, most of them students aged 16-18, hostage with a handgun. He surrendered peacefully and no one was harmed. The teacher suffered from depression

Clinical depression

Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...

 in the past and was unemployed at the time. Although the hostage crisis lasted several hours, there was little tension. Students were allowed to call their parents by cell phone and the man promised the school staff that he would not hurt the students. Sablé-sur-Sarthe

Sablé-sur-Sarthe

Sablé-sur-Sarthe, commonly referred to as Sablé, is a commune in the Sarthe department in the Pays de la Loire region in west France.-Geography:...

was closed off and special forces surrounded the school, ready to move in, when the crisis ended.