12-year-old dies, two seriously hurt in Finland school shooting
A 12-year-old child has died after being shot in a primary school in the Finnish city of Vantaa, just north of the capital Helsinki, the police said on Tuesday.
Two other 12-year-olds were seriously injured in the incident, the police said.
The emergency services arrested another 12-year-old pupil about a kilometre away from the school. The suspected perpetrator had a firearm with him. The police said the arrest went smoothly.
The authorities had been alerted at around 9 am. Shortly afterwards, a large contingent of police officers cordoned off the school and the surrounding area. All of the children involved were sixth-grade students, the police said.
The crime is being investigated as murder and attempted murder, police said, with the suspect said to have confessed to the offences during initial questioning. According to the police, the weapon used belonged to a close relative of the boy.
"This should not have happened," police chief Seppo Kolehmainen said of the case, adding that society should have learnt from previous school shootings.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo described the incident as "deeply shocking" on X, formerly Twitter. "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the other pupils and staff at the school," his post continued.
The public was asked to stay away from the area as police continued their investigations at the primary school in the Viertola district in Vantaa in the south of Finland.
The primary school has around 800 pupils spread over two locations.
Vantaa is Finland's fourth largest city with more than 200,000 inhabitants.
The Finnish Ministry of the Interior says there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms in Finland and around 430,000 authorized owners. Both hunting and gun ownership have a long tradition in the country.
Following the shootings at Finnish schools in 2007 and 2008, which left a total of 20 people dead, the country tightened its gun laws by raising the minimum age for gun ownership and giving the police more powers to check people applying for a gun licence.
