A 12-year-old student was taken into custody after a shooting at a school outside the capital of Finland, Helsinki, on Tuesday left one child dead, and two others critically injured, according to police.
According to the municipality, the shooting occurred at the Viertola school in Vantaa, a suburb of Helsinki, which has about 800 students enrolled in first through ninth grade and 90 staff members.
A building at the school had a police cordon around it. Hundreds of meters (yards) away, parents were picking up their kids from another school building.
The arrest had taken place outside the school, in the Siltamaki suburb. Police said that they now had both the weapon and the suspect in custody. As of right now, no additional suspects were listed by police.
They stated that the victims and the suspect were all 12-year-old Finn students, but they did not reveal the identities of the victims or the suspect.
In a preliminary interview, the suspect -- who had not been given the opportunity to enter a plea -- admitted to the attack, according to police. The suspect is too young to be remanded into custody, so social services will be handling his care.
According to police, the motive of the attack was unclear. They claimed that the suspect's relative owned the permit of the handgun used in the attack.
Two police officers were seen kneeling next to the suspected shooter, who was lying face down on a sidewalk, in a video that went viral on social media and was not verified.
Anja Hietamies, the mother of an 11-year-old student, told Reuters that following the shooting, she got a message from her daughter. She added that her daughter was afraid. "She said they were in a dark, locked classroom, not allowed to speak on the phone, but could send messages," she said.
Mari Rantanen, the interior minister, stated on X: "The day started in a horrifying way... I can only imagine the pain and worry that many families are experiencing at the moment. The suspected perpetrator has been caught."
The shooting, according to Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, was extremely disturbing. "My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones and the other students and staff," he said on X.
Prior school shootings in Finland have brought the country's gun laws under intense scrutiny.
Using a handgun, Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed himself, the principal, the school nurse, and six students at Jokela High School, which is located close to Helsinki, in 2007.
Another student named Matti Saari opened fire at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, northwest Finland, a year later in 2008. Before turning the gun on himself, he murdered nine students and one male staff member.
In 2010, Finland strengthened its gun control laws and mandated an aptitude test for all those applying for a firearms license. Also, the minimum age requirement for applicants was raised from 18 to 20.
In this country of 5.6 million people, where hunting and target shooting are popular, there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and approximately 430,000 licence holders.
