Flags flew at half-mast across Finland on Wednesday as the country mourned the death of a 12-year-old boy shot at school, with police saying a sixth-grade classmate was the only suspect.
Two other Viertola school students, both girls, also 12 years old, were seriously injured in Tuesday’s attack and were being treated in hospital, police said in a statement.
“Police have a preliminary understanding of the motive for the act, but for investigative reasons this cannot yet be confirmed,” police said.
Officers said the suspect admitted to the shooting during an initial investigation. He was placed in the care of social services because a child cannot be kept in custody.
After news of the attack spread Tuesday morning, anxious parents waited for hours outside the school as teachers kept classroom doors closed to protect their students and police searched the buildings.
The suspect was detained about four kilometers away, carrying a revolver, according to police.
The suspect and the dead boy are Finnish citizens. One of the injured girls is also Finnish, while the third victim has dual citizenship, from Finland and Kosovo.
Investigators warned people not to spread rumors online.
“There is a lot of different, partly incorrect, information about what happened… Police continue to stress that spreading misinformation on social media is a crime,” they said.
After deadly school attacks in 2007 and 2008, Finland strengthened its gun legislation in 2010 and introduced a fitness test for all applicants for firearms licenses. The minimum age for applicants has also been increased from 18 to 20 years.
The license for the handgun used in this week’s attack belonged to a relative of the suspect, police said.
There are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 430,000 license holders in the country of 5.6 million people, where hunting and target shooting are popular.
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