A child has shot dead his 12-year-old mate and seriously wounded two others in a classroom shooting in Finland, local police reported.
Police initially said three minors were injured in the attack and taken to hospital, but later said one had died. The other two are in serious condition.
Armed police cordoned off the Viertola lower secondary school, which has about 800 students, in the city of Vantaa – near the capital Helsinki – after a call about gunfire came in at 9.08 a.m. local time.
Police said the suspect was later apprehended and Finnish broadcaster MTV Uutiset said police caught up with him on a 50-minute walk from the school in the direction of Helsinki. One witness said the “small” hooded minor dropped something on the floor and knelt down when police arrived to arrest him.
The suspect was found in possession of a firearm and is now under investigation for murder and two attempted murder charges. However, the suspect is unlikely to be prosecuted because of his age: the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Finland is 15.
Authorities said the shooter and the victims were both 12 years old, while local news outlets, citing parents of students at the school, said the shooting took place in a classroom. They said the children were calling them from school at the time of the attack.
Finnish Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said in a post on X that the day had started in a “shocking way”. She added:
I can only imagine the pain and worry that many families are experiencing at the moment.
After the shooting, the Vantaa City Crisis Team was activated and an investigation was launched. A police statement said earlier:
All those involved in the shooting incident are minors. According to the police’s current information, there are three injured.
Photos from the school show armed police officers on the scene and police cars and an ambulance parked in the playground, which was cordoned off this morning.
As well as 800 primary and secondary school pupils aged between seven and 15, there are around 90 members of staff at the school. Pupils and staff had just returned to school after the Easter holidays when the shooting started on Tuesday morning. In a statement, police said:
Police are at the scene investigating the incident. Bystanders are asked to stay away from the area and indoors. The door should not be opened to strangers.
Viertola school principal Sari Laasila later told Reuters that “the immediate danger has passed” and declined to comment further on the incident.
Vantaa, Finland’s fourth-largest city, is about ten miles north of the capital Helsinki. It is home to about 250,000 people.
According to the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 430,000 licence holders in this Scandinavian country of 5.6 million people. Local police departments are responsible for issuing licences for ordinary firearms.
