Finnish school shooter was ‘victim of bullying’
A 12-year-old boy who shot three of his classmates at their school near Helsinki had been bullied, Finnish police said.
The boy shot his classmates, also aged 12, leaving one boy dead and two girls with life-threatening injuries before fleeing the scene on Tuesday morning.
He was caught close to an hour later in a northern district of Helsinki.
“The motive for the act has been identified as bullying. The suspect has told the police during interrogations that he has been the victim of bullying and this information has also been confirmed in the police’s preliminary investigation,” police said in a statement.
Investigators also confirmed that the young suspect had been transferred to the school in the town of Vantaa at the beginning of the year.
Both female victims remained in hospital in a critical condition on Wednesday.
Police have not said whether the attacker sought to target any specific individuals.
Finland’s public buildings lowered their flags to half-mast on Wednesday to mark that a day of mourning was being observed.
Authorities in the town of Vantaa said that most pupils at the school attended class as normal on Wednesday following the previous day’s shooting.
Roughly 90 per cent of the school’s students turned up for school, said the head of the city education authority, Ilkka Kalo.
A minute’s silence was held at the start of the school day and pupils were given the chance to ask questions about the shooting, he said.
The suspect is now being investigated on one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder.
Investigation into obtaining handgun
Because children under the age of 15 are not considered criminally culpable in Finland, he will not face prosecution.
Police said that they have also opened an investigation into how he obtained the handgun used in the shooting.
They confirmed that it belonged to a family member with a gun licence.
It was not immediately clear how the shooter had obtained the weapon.
“This matter is being investigated by the police as a separate firearms offence,” investigators said in a statement.
Following deadly school shootings in 2007 and 2008, Finland tightened its gun legislation in 2010 and introduced an aptitude test for all firearms licence applicants. The minimum age for applicants was also raised to 20 from 18.
