CAUTION: GRAPHIC CONTENT MAY DISTURB SOME READERS.

A supply teacher has been suspended from a Lasalle high school for showing secondary four students the infamous video that shows a killing allegedly committed by Luka Rocco Magnotta.

The teacher showed the students the grotesque scenes on June 4 and was immediately suspended that afternoon--with pay. The video is so disturbing that, according to Montreal police, even seasoned detectives who have watched it were troubled by the contents.

Staff at Cavelier-De LaSalle High School say they quickly informed the students that a team of psychologists was available to deal with any problems that might have resulted from watching the video.

"We condemn with one voice the actions of the teacher who showed students a video whose content was as inappropriate as it was offensive," the school board said in a statement Wednesday.

"The incident is being taken very seriously."

The teacher had been under contract as a replacement through the end of the year, for a 10th-grade history and citizenship education class.

Students are apparently defending the popular young teacher--whom one described as being about 25 years old.

Another student told reporters that it was the kids who asked him to play the video. She said the teacher was hesitant. A few children in the class also objected. But the vast majority of students, she said, convinced him to play the video.

The teacher apparently apologized to the school by email that same day. He is now scheduled to lay out his version of the facts before a labour-relations board Wednesday. A decision is expected by the end of the school year, but could also come during the summer.

Magnotta, a male escort and porn actor originally named Eric Newman, is awaiting extradition from Germany and faces murder charges in the slaying of Chinese exchange student Jun Lin.

A memorial is planned in Montreal for Lin tomorrow night.

A video circulating on the Internet--called "1 Lunatic, 1 Ice Pick"--is believed by authorities to show Lin's murder in Montreal several weeks ago.

It shows someone stabbing a man and dismembering him. It then shows the killer committing acts of sex and cannibalism on parts of the corpse.ctvmontreal.ca

Another Montreal high-school teacher, speaking to The Canadian Press, says he has heard from several of his students who have watched the video at home and immediately regretted it.

Education Minister Michelle Courchesne expressed anger over the incident.

"It's horrifying," Courchesne told reporters in Quebec City. "It's a very, very serious and total lack of judgment. I don't see any educational value in that [video]."