A day of mourning has been announced in Finland after the school shooting – Respublika.lt

Flags of all public buildings and institutions will be lowered from 8 am. morning, the Ministry of the Interior announced on its website, urging the entire country to observe mourning.

On Tuesday morning, a 12-year-old boy opened fire at his school in Vantaa, Finland’s fourth-largest city.

According to Finnish television channel MTV Uutiset, the boy who shot was wearing a mask and noise-canceling headphones.

The slain child, who was also 12 years old, died at the scene and the suspect had already fled the school when police arrived. An investigation into the murder and attempted murder has been launched.

The suspect, who had a gun with him, was “calmly” arrested within an hour of the shooting and admitted to the shooting during initial questioning.

There are no other suspects, police said, adding that the gun the shooter had belonged to a relative.

“Very disappointing”

“Police are investigating, among other things, the motive for this act and the cause of the incident,” Detective Chief Inspector Marko Sarkka, who is leading the investigation, said in a statement on Tuesday. The boy will not be jailed, he said, because he is not yet 15 and cannot be prosecuted.

Police also said that a technical crime scene investigation has begun at the school and will continue on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Petter Orpo said he was “deeply saddened” by the incident, adding that his thoughts were with the victims, their parents, other students and teachers.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb expressed his condolences to the family of the dead student on the social media platform X.

“Violence must be taken seriously”

Elina Pekkarinen, Finland’s children’s rights ombudsman, told Finnish news agency STT that “we have been saying for years that violence between children in society needs to be taken seriously.”

She added that incidents of violence, especially among children under the age of 15, have been increasing for several years.

In recent decades, Finland has already experienced several horrific school attacks.

In November 2007, an 18-year-old opened fire at Jokela High School, about 50 km north of Helsinki, shooting the school principal, a nurse and six students before turning the gun on himself.

A year later, in September 2008, 22-year-old Mattis Juhanis Saaris killed 11 people at a vocational school in the western town of Kauhajoki.

In October 2019, a student armed with a sword killed a 23-year-old woman and injured nine others at a vocational school in Kuopio.