A 12-year-old pupil opened hearth at a decrease secondary faculty in southern Finland Tuesday morning, killing one fellow pupil and significantly wounding two others, police stated. All three victims had been additionally 12-years-old.
The suspect was later arrested within the Helsinki space with a handgun in his possession, police added.
Closely armed police cordoned off the varsity, which has some 800 college students, within the metropolis of Vantaa, simply exterior the capital, Helsinki, after receiving a name a couple of taking pictures incident at 9:08 a.m.
MARKKU ULANDER / Lehtikuva / AFP through Getty Photographs
“The rapid hazard is over,” the Viertola faculty’s principal, Sari Laasila, advised Reuters.
“The day began in a horrifying manner. There was a taking pictures incident on the Viertola faculty in Vantaa. I can solely think about the ache and fear that many households are experiencing in the meanwhile. The suspected perpetrator has been caught,” Inside Minister Mari Rantanen stated on X.
Additionally on X, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo known as the taking pictures “deeply surprising.”
MARKKU ULANDER / Lehtikuva/ AFP through Getty Photographs
The motive for the taking pictures wasn’t initially clear.
Reuters stated the varsity has college students from first by way of ninth grade, in accordance with the native municipality.
Prior faculty shootings in Finland
In previous many years, Finland has witnessed two main lethal faculty shootings.
In November 2007, a 18-year-old pupil armed with a semi-automatic pistol opened hearth on the premises of the Jokela highschool in Tuusula, in southern Finland, killing 9 individuals. He was discovered lifeless with self-inflicted wounds.
Lower than a yr later, in September 2008, a 22-year-old pupil shot and killed 10 individuals with a semi-automatic pistol at a vocational faculty in Kauhajoki, in southwestern Finland, earlier than fatally taking pictures himself.
Within the Nordic nation of 5.6 million, there are greater than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 430,000 license holders, in accordance with the Finnish Inside Ministry. Looking and gun possession have lengthy traditions within the sparsely-populated northern European nation.
Accountability for granting permits for unusual firearms rests with native police departments.
Following the varsity shootings in 2007 and 2008, Finland tightened its gun legal guidelines by elevating the minimal age for firearms possession and giving police higher powers to make background checks on people making use of for a gun license.Â
