Current:Home > MarketsFinland school shooting by 12-year-old leaves 1 student dead and wounds 2 others, all also 12, police say -RiskWatch
Finland school shooting by 12-year-old leaves 1 student dead and wounds 2 others, all also 12, police say
View
Date:2025-04-17 06:03:24
A 12-year-old student opened fire at a lower secondary school in southern Finland Tuesday morning, killing one fellow student and seriously wounding two others, police said. All three victims were also 12-years-old.
The suspect was later arrested in the Helsinki area with a handgun in his possession, police added.
Heavily armed police cordoned off the school, which has some 800 students, in the city of Vantaa, just outside the capital, Helsinki, after receiving a call about a shooting incident at 9:08 a.m.
"The immediate danger is over," the Viertola school's principal, Sari Laasila, told Reuters.
"The day started in a horrifying way. There has been a shooting incident at the Viertola school in Vantaa. I can only imagine the pain and worry that many families are experiencing at the moment. The suspected perpetrator has been caught," Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said on X.
Also on X, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called the shooting "deeply shocking."
The motive for the shooting wasn't initially clear.
Reuters said the school has students from first through ninth grade, according to the local municipality.
Prior school shootings in Finland
In past decades, Finland has witnessed two major deadly school shootings.
In November 2007, a 18-year-old student armed with a semi-automatic pistol opened fire at the premises of the Jokela high school in Tuusula, in southern Finland, killing nine people. He was found dead with self-inflicted wounds.
Less than a year later, in September 2008, a 22-year-old student shot and killed 10 people with a semi-automatic pistol at a vocational college in Kauhajoki, in southwestern Finland, before fatally shooting himself.
In the Nordic nation of 5.6 million, there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 430,000 license holders, according to the Finnish Interior Ministry. Hunting and gun ownership have long traditions in the sparsely-populated northern European country.
Responsibility for granting permits for ordinary firearms rests with local police departments.
Following the school shootings in 2007 and 2008, Finland tightened its gun laws by raising the minimum age for firearms ownership and giving police greater powers to make background checks on individuals applying for a gun license.
- In:
- Finland
- Shooting
veryGood! (1337)
Related
- Skins Game to make return to Thanksgiving week with a modern look
- 2024 MTV VMAs: Chappell Roan Brings Her Own Rug for Revealing Red Carpet Outfit Change
- Former South Carolina, Jets RB Kevin Long dies at 69
- Addison Rae Is Only Wearing Underwear at the 2024 MTV VMAs
- Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
- 16 Super Cute Finds That Look Like Other Things (But Are Actually Incredibly Practical!)
- DA who oversaw abandoned prosecution of Colorado man in wife’s death should be disbarred, panel says
- Campbell wants to say goodbye to the ‘soup’ in its name. It isn’t the first to make such a change
- 'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
- How Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Reacted to Jason Kelce Discussing His “T-ts” on TV
Ranking
- Former Danish minister for Greenland discusses Trump's push to acquire island
- 2024 VMAs: Sabrina Carpenter Showcases Romance During Steamy Performance—and Not With Barry Keoghan
- Trump wouldn’t say whether he’d veto a national ban even as abortion remains a top election issue
- 2024 VMAs: Sabrina Carpenter Showcases Romance During Steamy Performance—and Not With Barry Keoghan
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Katy Perry takes aim at critics, thanks Orlando Bloom for 'doing the dishes' in VMAs speech
- UAW’s rift with Stellantis raises fear that some US auto jobs could vanish
- Mississippi man found not guilty of threatening Republican US Sen. Roger Wicker
Recommendation
Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Wildfires plague U.S. West and Brazil, Yagi rampages in Vietnam
Harvey Weinstein indicted on additional sex crimes charges ahead of New York retrial
Debate was an ‘eye opener’ in suburban Philadelphia and Harris got a closer look
A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
2 people walk away after a small plane crashes at a Denver-area golf course
Blue Jays pitcher Bowden Francis again loses no-hit bid on leadoff homer in 9th
A plan to extract gold from mining waste splits a Colorado town with a legacy of pollution