HELSINKI (AP) — Mourners gathered outside a southern Finland school Wednesday, a day after a 12-year-old scholar shot and killed a boy and significantly wounded two women all the identical age with a handgun. The suspect, a sixth grader who attended the school, was apprehended lower than an hour later.
The assault shocked the Nordic nation, where Finnish blue-and-white flags had been hoisted at half-staff and scores of individuals together with dad and mom, academics and fellow college students laid flowers and lit candles within the snowy panorama close to the school constructing where the capturing occurred.
The Finnish authorities declared Wednesday a nationwide day of mourning, ordering all state companies and establishments to decrease the nationwide flag to half-staff. Many non-public households throughout Finland joined within the commemoration.
Police mentioned one of many wounded women has a twin Finland-Kosovo citizenship. The shooter and the victims had been all classmates.
In a assertion on Wednesday, police mentioned they’ve established a preliminary motive for the killing, which was carried out with “a revolver-like handgun,” however mentioned the investigation was ongoing. Finnish public broadcaster YLE mentioned the suspect had allegedly been bullied at school.
On Tuesday, closely armed police cordoned off the Viertola school, an 800-student secondary school within the metropolis of Vantaa, simply outside Helsinki.
Police mentioned the deceased boy died immediately after being shot. The suspect was detained within the Helsinki space lower than an hour after the capturing, with a handgun in his possession. The gun was licensed to a relative of the suspect who was not instantly recognized. Police mentioned he admitted to the capturing in an preliminary police listening to.
The minimal age of legal legal responsibility in Finland is 15 years, which suggests the suspect can’t be formally arrested. A suspect youthful than 15 can solely be questioned by the police earlier than they’re handed over to baby welfare authorities.
Finland has witnessed two major deadly school shootings in 2007 and 2008. In their wake, the nation tightened its gun legal guidelines, elevating the minimal age for firearms possession and giving police higher powers to carry out background checks on people making use of for a gun license.
The nation of 5.6 million has greater than 1.5 million licensed firearms, and about 430,000 license holders, in keeping with the Finnish Interior Ministry. Hunting and gun-ownership are deeply rooted traditions on this sparsely-populated northern European nation, where goal observe can be a widespread pastime.
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Associated Press author Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report.