Victim dies after Finland school shooting, 12-year-old suspect held

One of the three 12-year-old children shot at a school outside the Finnish capital on Tuesday later died, police said, with a 12-year-old fellow pupil suspected of the attack taken into custody.

The victims were taken to hospital, a police spokesperson said. The two survivors were seriously injured.

At the school, a building had been cordoned off by police. Parents were picking up their children from another school building hundreds of meters away.

The arrest had happened peacefully, in Helsinki away from the school. Police said that both the suspect and the weapon were now in custody - although under Finnish law a suspect under 15 years of age cannot be remanded in custody, and will be delivered to social services' care.

Although police said the motive is not yet clear, the suspect has admitted to the act during the preliminary interview, and police are investigating the incidents as murder and attempted murders.

Police also said that the suspect had a handgun, the permit of which belongs to a close relative. All those involved are Finnish.

Video circulating on social media and unverified by Reuters showed two police kneeling at the side of the suspected shooter who was lying face down on a sidewalk.

No details about the identities of the children or the condition of the victims were immediately released.

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

Anja Hietamies, the mother of an 11-year-old pupil, said she received a message from her daughter after the shooting.

"She said they were in a dark, locked classroom, not allowed to speak on the phone but could send messages," Hietamies said, adding her daughter was scared.

"The immediate danger is over," the Viertola school's principal Sari Laasila said, declining to comment further.

Interior Minister Mari Rantanen said 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."

READ MORE

Chinese Wasabi highlight at food fair

Portugal's cork industry touts green credentials

Xpeng expands European footprint

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said the shooting was deeply shocking.

"My thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones and the other students and staff," he said on X.

Previous school shootings in Finland have put a harsh focus on Finland's gun policy. In 2007, Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot and killed six students, the school nurse, the principal, and himself using a handgun at Jokela High School, near Helsinki.

In 2008, student Matti Saari opened fire at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, located in northwest Finland. He killed nine students and one male staff member before turning the gun on himself.

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

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

Subscribe to Storyboard: A weekly newsletter bringing you the best of CGTN every Friday