Three children were injured today in a shooting at a school in the Finnish city of Vantaa, which is located near the metropolis of Helsinki, Reuters reported. Police said they have arrested the suspect, who is 12 years old.
The shooter’s motive is not yet known, nor is it known what weapon he used. However, it was a handgun, wrote the server of Finnish public television Yle.
Pupils aged 12 were injured, and the suspect is the same age, said Chief Commissioner Timo Leppälä, according to Yle. The injured were taken to hospital, the police did not want to comment on their condition. The suspect, who according to the police is a student at the school, was detained in the north of Helsinki. The police are now investigating whether other persons are involved in the case.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described today’s elementary school shooting as deeply shocking on the X network.
According to Yle TV, the shooting took place at the Viertola school, which has about 800 students. The school provides basic education for pupils from 1st to 9th grade. About 90 people work at the school. “The immediate danger has been averted,” the school’s principal, Sari Laasila, told Reuters.
Previous school shootings have led to a discussion in Finland about the need to tighten gun laws. These debates were sparked primarily by the act of 18-year-old student Pekka-Erik Auvine, who in November 2007 shot eight people and then himself at Jokela High School in Tuusula, southern Finland. A year later, in 2008, another student, 22-year-old Matti Saari, shot and killed ten people at Kauhajoki High School. The gun laws were tightened in 2010.
