Samuel Paty beheading: Teacher's slaying spurs protests across France - CNN

Paty had taught a class on freedom of expression, during which he used caricatures of the prophet taken from Charlie Hebdo, sparking controversy in the weeks preceding his death, authorities said.

Before police gunned him down Friday, Abouyezidovitch said on Twitter that he had executed one of French President Emmanuel Macron's "dogs of hell" who had belittled the revered prophet, anti-terrorist prosecutor Jean-François Ricard said.

It was unclear if Abouyezidovitch had attended Collège du Bois d'Aulne.

Paty had organized a lesson around the Charlie Hebdo caricatures, Ricard said.

It was out of pure kindness because he had to show a caricature of the prophet of Islam and simply said to the Muslim children: 'Go out, I don't want it to hurt your feelings.' That's what my son told me," he said.

Several people taken into custody

After a Danish newspaper controversially published the caricatures in 2005, Charlie Hebdo republished them the following year.