12-year-old Shoots Students, Injuring 3 In Finland

A 12-year-old Finnish school shooter dies and two people are injured, according to authorities

The shooter, who is also 12 years old, was apprehended by the authorities after he injured three 12-year-old kids in a shooting incident at a Finnish school on Tuesday, April 2.

An official from the police told Reuters that the wounded were taken right away to a nearby hospital so they could receive medical attention.

There are currently few details available on the occurrence.

According to the local government, the shooting took place at Viertola school in Vantaa, a suburb of Helsinki. The school serves about 800 children in grades one through nine and has about 90 employees.

The principal of Viertola School, Sari Laasila, confirmed to Reuters that the immediate threat has been eliminated, but she would not provide any details.

The interior minister, Mari Rantanen, offered her condolences and acknowledged that many families may have been distressed and anxious as a result of the incident.

She verified that the alleged offender had been apprehended.

On X, the interior minister tweeted, “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.”

This incident is reminiscent of earlier school shootings in Finland, including the Jokela High School massacre in 2007 that left Pekka-Eric Auvinen dead as well as six pupils, the principal, and the school nurse.

Matti Saari killed nine pupils and one staff member in the 2008 Kauhajoki Vocational School shooting before taking his own life.

Finland enacted tougher gun control laws in 2010 in response to these instances. These laws increased the minimum age for applicants to be 18 to 20 and required an ability test for all those seeking handgun licenses.

Finland, a country of 5.6 million people, is well-known for its hunting and target shooting culture. It has more than 1.5 million registered guns and about 430,000 license holders.