Two other children seriously injured in incident in Helsinki suburb described by minister as ‘horrifying’

A 12-year-old child has died and two others have been seriously wounded in a school shooting in Finland.

The suspect, a fellow pupil, ran off after the shooting but was later arrested, police said. He was holding a licensed handgun owned by a close relative and admitted carrying out the shooting in an initial interview, they added.

The shooting took place on Tuesday morning at the Viertola school in Vantaa, a suburb of the capital, Helsinki. The school has about 800 pupils from first to ninth grade and a staff of 90 people, according to the local municipality.

Finland tightened its gun legislation in 2010, introducing an aptitude test for all firearms licence applicants. The age limit for applicants was changed to 20 from 18.

There are more than 1.5m licensed firearms and about 430,000 licence holders in the nation of 5.6 million people, where hunting and target shooting are popular activities.

  • @[email protected]
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    208 months ago

    Looking back at my school days, it doesn’t surprise me things like this happen.

    Kids are cruel, and a lot of them think they’re immune to the consequences of their actions.

    Unfortunately, this mindset carries over into adulthood more often than not.

    Treat people right, guys.

    • @WraithGear
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      78 months ago

      I mean they kinda are. The school only has leverage on students that care. So leading up to a confrontation the school really can’t do anything against an antagonizer. when there Is a confrontation, only the student that cared in the first place is going to be punished meaningfully. Well it’s either that or the teachers are just as cruel as the bullies.