A 13-year-old boy wielding a crossbow and a machete killed a substitute teacher and wounded four others in Barcelona Monday. The attack comes on the 16th anniversary of the 1999 Columbine school killing in Colorado. 

The boy has been detained by Spanish authorities after the attack that also saw two other teachers and two students injured. The attack took place at the Joan Fuster school in a working class neighborhood of Spain's second-largest city just after 9.30 am, reports the Times of India. School attacks are extremely rare in Spain. 

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"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." 

Reuters reports that witnesses said the 13-year-old boy entered the school in the morning. He is believed to have killed the teacher with a knife, but also had a crossbow with him.

"He was carrying one but it's not what (he) used to attack the teacher," a police spokeswoman said.

A student from the school said she had been in a classroom when the attacker walked in.

"The boy came into our class with a knife and wanted to attack a friend of mine. But he didn't manage to, he left, and we had a chance to run away," the girl told Reuters TV.

Two teachers and two students were also hurt in the assault, however, their injuries were not serious.

The school suspended classes until Wednesday, head teacher Maria Dolors Parramon told Spanish television. She said students were being offered psychological support.

Under Spanish law, minors under the age of 14 cannot be formally arrested or criminally tried. They are only held in specialized centers in exceptional cases.

The boy was taken to a hospital for a psychiatric examination, said Jose Miguel Company, a spokesman for the Barcelona prosecutor's office. 

"He was very disturbed and saying strange and incoherent things." 

TagsSpanish Teen with Crossbow, Machete Kills Teacher in School on Columbine Anniversary, Spanish Teenager Armed with Crossbow, Machete Kills Teacher in School, Columbine, Joan fuster school