A child has died, and two others have been seriously injured after a 12-year-old classmate opened fire at a school in southern Finland, police said.
Heavily armed police cordoned off Viertola school in the city of Vantaa, about 18km north of Helsinki, after being notified of a shooting incident just after 9am local time on Tuesday.
One of the students died at the scene while two others were seriously wounded, Chief of Police Ilkka Koskimäki from the Eastern Uusimaa Police Department said. All three victims are 12 years old.
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The suspected shooter fled on foot but was arrested by police less than an hour later in the Helsinki area.
An unverified video circulating on social media showed two police officers kneeling at the side of the suspect who was lying face down on a footpath. Police are not searching for anyone else.
Detective Inspector Kimmo Hyvärinen said the weapon used in the shooting was a registered handgun that was licensed to the suspect’s relative.
The motive remains unclear, police said, however, the case is being investigated as a murder and two attempted murders.
The minimum age of criminal liability in Finland is 15 years, which means the suspect cannot be formally arrested. A suspect younger than 15 can only be heard by the police after which they will be handed over to Finland’s child welfare authorities.
The school has about 800 students from first to ninth grade and 90 staff members. Students were kept inside their classrooms after the shooting and authorities urged people to avoid the school and remain indoors.
Anja Hietamies, the mother of an 11-year-old pupil, told Reuters she received a message from her daughter, saying: “They were in a dark, locked classroom, not allowed to speak on the phone but could send messages”.
‘Deeply shocking’
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the shooting was “deeply shocking.”
“My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the other students and staff of the Viertola school,” Orpo wrote on X.
Finland’s gun ownership rates are among the highest in the world, and while school shootings are rare, previous incidents have put a harsh focus on the country’s gun policy.
In 2007, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, an 18-year-old schoolboy, shot and killed six students, the school nurse, the principal, and himself using a handgun at Jokela High School, near Helsinki. He also wounded 10 others.
A year later, in 2008, Matti Saari, another student, opened fire at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, in northwest Finland, killing 10 before also killing himself.
Finland tightened its gun legislation in 2010, introducing an aptitude test for all firearms licence applicants. The age limit for applicants was also changed to 20 from 18.
There are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 430,000 licence holders in the nation of 5.6 million people.
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– with AP/CNN/Reuters
