#Child #killed #school #shooting #Vantaa #southern #Finland
2024-04-02: A clarification has been added to the text.
The alarm about the shooting came to the police in the Bäckby area in Vantaa shortly after 9 o’clock on Tuesday morning. According to the police, they were on the scene at Viertola primary school nine minutes later. The police then urged the public to stay away and to stay indoors.
Three injured children were found at the school. At a press conference on Tuesday, the police announced that one of the children had died. The injuries to the other two are serious.
A suspected perpetrator has been arrested. Photo: Karl Vilhjálmsson/HBL
A suspected perpetrator was arrested before 10 a.m. and at 10:40 a.m. the school principal announced that the danger to the public was over.
The perpetrator was arrested in Stapelstaden, a residential area in Helsinki. In connection with the arrest, the weapon suspected of being used in the shooting was also seized. The weapon belongs to a relative of the twelve-year-old. The relative has a firearms license. According to information in Evening newspaper – Kvällsbladet in Swedish – the boy must have confessed to the crime during the first interrogation that was held with him.
The twelve-year-old is currently suspected of one murder and two attempted murders. The fact that it is not a case of murder is due to the fact that the shooting was “obviously intentional”, according to the police. The shooting took place indoors. The perpetrator’s age means that he is not criminally responsible.
The twelve-year-old suspect was a student at the school and was in the same sixth grade as those who were exposed to the shooting.
A witness to the arrest speaks up Evening newspaper that the arrested person looked like a “little boy”.
According to one of the police chiefs who attended the press conference, there were no signs of a school shooting. The arrested person is not previously known to the police, nor was there any known concern about the twelve-year-old.
– We could not have prevented the act in advance, we have not seen any warning signals or received any threats. But things like these should still not be allowed to happen, said the police chief at the press conference.
According to an eyewitness as Iltalehti spoke to, a single shot was heard. It echoed across the school yard.
– Then a terrible scream was heard and a couple of children ran across the yard.
The children’s screams in the schoolyard were initially not connected to the school shooting, according to eyewitnesses. It was only when police officers from the special forces rushed into the farm that it was understood that something serious had happened.
Image 1 of 2 Photo: Markku Ulander/TT Image 2 of 2 Photo: Markku Ulander/TT
There are approximately 800 students at the Viertola school where the shooting occurred. Those involved attended a unit with 270 students.
Deputy city manager Katri Kalske tells Svenska Yle that the city’s crisis team has been activated.
About a dozen relatives of the injured are currently being cared for by the police and crisis team. Dickursby church, located in the area, is open and welcomes anyone who feels they need to talk.
The school’s students was escorted out of the school shortly after 11 a.m. local time. They were taken to other premises next to the school building and were allowed to leave the school with their parents only later in the day. Police have not yet commented on how many shots were fired or what type of weapon the suspect fired with.
The Finnish Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (PS) writes on X that “the day started in a shocking way”:
– I can only imagine the pain and worry that many families are experiencing right now.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo’s thoughts go out to the relatives. He writes on X that he is deeply shocked by what happened.
It has happened before noted school shootings in Finland. In 2007, an 18-year-old shot dead eight people at Jokelaskolan in Tusby, Finland. After the deed, he took his own life. The following year there was a mass shooting at a vocational school in Kauhajoki. Then a 22-year-old man shot ten people to death. Even in that case, the perpetrator took his own life after the incident.
Clarification: The police initially assumed that those involved were 13 years old. That has now been corrected, all involved are 12 years old.
Facts. Weapons Act in Finland
In Finland, which has a population of 5.5 million, there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and approximately 430,000 holders with permits, according to the Finnish Ministry of the Interior. Here there is a long tradition of both hunting and gun ownership.
The local police are responsible for the permits.
After the school shootings in Finland in 2007 and 2008, the country tightened its gun laws by raising the minimum age for possession and by giving police greater powers to check up on individuals applying for permits.
Source: TT, AP, Ministry of the Interior of Finland
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