A 12-year-old yesterday opened fire at a school north of the Finnish capital, Helsinki, killing a fellow student and seriously injuring two others before being taken into custody, police said.
The Viertola school in Vantaa, Finland’s fourth-largest city, has about 90 staff and 800 pupils in grades one to nine, or aged seven to 15.
“Today, after 9am, a shooting incident took place at a school ... in which a sixth grader, a student of the school, died,” Ilkka Koskimaki, chief of the Eastern Uusimaa police department, told a press conference, adding that two others were “seriously injured.”
Photo: AFP
Police had earlier said that both the suspect and the injured were 12 years old. They have opened an investigation into murder and attempted murder.
The child who was killed died at the scene, and the suspect had already left the school by the time police arrived.
The suspect, who was carrying a gun, was arrested in a “calm manner” at about 10am and admitted to being the shooter in a preliminary interrogation.
Iltalehti newspaper published a video filmed from a passing car showing two police officers pinning down a child by the side of a road in a residential area.
Owing to the suspect’s young age, police said the child would not be held in custody, but would be turned over to social services after being interviewed.
Ayan Hanif, a student at the school, said that he and his classmates had just gone outside for a physical excercise class when teachers told them to hurry back inside and sit on the floor.
“I think I heard one or two gunshots, but I’m not sure,” the 13-year-old said.
Another witness told Iltalehti that shots had echoed across the schoolyard.
“At first I didn’t understand it was a weapon. Then a terrible scream could be heard and children ran across the yard,” the witness said.
A large number of police officers, some carrying body armor and rifles had gathered outside the school.
Parents of the students told journalists the shooting took place in a classroom, but police did not specify any details about the shootings during a press conference.
The weapon the suspect was carrying belonged to a relative and there were no other suspects, police said.
Concerned parents arrived shortly after news of the shooting broke and waited outside the cordoned off school in near freezing temperatures.
“My daughter is still there in the school building and we’re waiting for the children to come out,” Janne Savolainen said.
Savolainen added that it was a “huge surprise” that the shooting had occurred at the school.
“We are talking about an elementary school so they’re small children,” he said.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb wrote on X that he was “shocked” by the event.
“I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families of the deceased student,” Stubb said.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said he was “deeply shocked” and his thoughts were with the victims, their relatives and the other students and staff.
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