Day of mourning in Finland after school shooting death

HELSINKI

Flags in Finland flew at half-mast on Wednesday as the country mourned the killing of a 12-year-old by a classmate who opened fire and seriously injured two others.

All public buildings and institutions lowered their flags at 8:00 am (0500 GMT) on Wednesday, and the interior ministry encouraged the whole country to participate in the day of grieving.

On Tuesday morning, a 12-year-old Finnish boy opened fire at his school in Vantaa, Finland's fourth-largest city.

The school, which has around 90 staff and 800 pupils aged seven to 15, remained open on Wednesday but the pupils will have a shorter day than usual, Deputy Mayor of Vantaa Katri Kalske told AFP.

Kalske said extensive support would be available to pupils and staff during the day, and that the shooting will be discussed in all schools in the city in an "age-appropriate manner".

According to Finnish broadcaster MTV Uutiset, the boy wore a mask and noise-cancelling headphones when he carried out the shooting.

The child who was killed, a Finnish boy also aged 12, died at the scene, and the suspect had already fled the school by the time police arrived.

The police opened an investigation into murder and attempted murder on Tuesday.

The suspect, who was carrying a gun, was arrested in a "calm manner" within an hour of the shooting and admitted to being the shooter in a preliminary interrogation.

Police said there were no other suspects.

 'Deeply upsetting' 

Police said they were looking to establish a motive for the crime, as well as conducting hearings and technical examinations of the crime scene on Wednesday.

"The police have a preliminary idea of the motive, but for investigative reasons it cannot yet be confirmed," the police said in a statement Wednesday morning, adding that the suspect had admitted to the crime on Tuesday.

According to the police, the weapon seized when the suspect was arrested was a "revolver-like handgun", believed to belong to one of his close relatives.

As the suspect is under 15 years old, he can not be held criminally responsible in Finland, and would not be incarcerated.

Two injured girls remain in hospital, according to police.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said Tuesday that the incident was "deeply upsetting", adding that his thoughts were with the victims, their parents, other pupils and teachers.

"In the coming days, we must be present for the children and young people, offer them words of comfort and show them that we care about them," he said in a statement.

"They may be scared or have questions. It is important that we talk about the incident in our homes."

 'Take violence seriously' 

Elina Pekkarinen, Finland's Children's Rights Ombudsman, told Finnish news agency STT on Tuesday, that "for years (we have been repeating) that we need to take violence between children in society seriously".

Acts of violence, particularly amongst children under 15 years old, have been on the rise for several years, she added.

Finland has already witnessed several gruesome school attacks in recent decades.

In November 2007, an 18-year-old man opened fire at a secondary school in Jokela, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Helsinki, killing the headmaster and a nurse along with six pupils before turning the gun on himself.

A year later, in September 2008, 22-year-old Matti Juhani Saari killed 11 people at a vocational school in the western town of Kauhajoki.

In October 2019, a college student, armed with a sabre, killed a 23-year-old woman and wounded nine others at a vocational school in the city of Kuopio.