Finland is holding a state of mourning for the victims of Tuesday’s elementary school shooting. The attack of a twelve-year-old student, according to some sources a boy, on his classmates caught the police and some politicians by surprise. For example, the Minister of Education had a hard time suppressing tears at press conferences.
Helsinki
12:58 p.m April 3, 2024
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Police officers intervene at a Finnish primary school in Vantaa near Helsinki | Photo: Markku Ulander | Source: Reuters
Around 9:00 in the morning, a 12-year-old student attacked the Vantaa elementary school not far from the Helsinki airport, where 800 students go.
One dead and ten injured after a violent incident at a Finnish school. The suspect was detained by the police
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The perpetrator was probably a boy. The Finnish authorities are trying to keep the sex of the perpetrator a secret. Only some statements indicate that it was a boy who pulled out a gun during class and shot three classmates. One of them died on the spot and the other two were seriously injured.
One of the victims is a girl from Kosovo, as reported by the Kosovo Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The perpetrator left after the shot and the police caught up with him about four kilometers away. He still had the gun in his hand at the time. He surrendered on the spot and was taken to juvenile detention.
The motive of the perpetrator is not yet known. The police interviewed him, but did not make any statement about it. According to the Finnish Prime Minister, it is now necessary to investigate whether this could have been prevented in some way and what the motive was.
A twelve-year-old boy shot one of his close relatives with a legally held gun. How he himself got to her specifically is not known.
Protection of personal data
The case is likely to end up in court, but without the presence of the attacker himself, due to his age and the fact that he is not criminally responsible. It is almost certain that the offender will end up in foster care without punishment. The Finnish authorities will decide on a specific course of action also based on his motives. At the moment, the offender is in the care of educational institutions.
In the entire case, the Finnish authorities take care to protect personal data, which also indicates that the gender of the perpetrator is not certain. Both the Finnish authorities and the media use gender-neutral pronouns so that as little as possible is known about the perpetrator and the victims.
The fact that one of the victims was a Kosovar girl is known because of the statement of the Kosovar authorities, not the Finnish ones.
Immediately after the incident, a number of articles and advice were published about how parents and teachers should talk to children, how to guide them so that they will not be afraid to go to school the next day.
Even the Vantaa school itself, where the shooting took place, opened its doors on Wednesday. A crisis psychologist came to each class and talked with the children about what happened so that they could cope with the situation.
The case also affected politicians personally. For example, Anna-Maja Henriksson, Finland’s Minister of Education, sobbed at a press conference, even though she has been in politics for over ten years.
Jakub Lucký, anc
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