On 2 April 2024, a shooting occurred at the , Jokiranta site in

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The gunman, a 12-year-old student, fired a revolver at three students, all aged 12. One of the victims died and two were seriously injured.

Background

Gun ownership in Finland is closely linked to

hunting Hunting is the Human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products (fur/hide (sk ...

and

target practice Target practice is a key part of both military training and shooting sports. It involves exercises where people shoot weapons at specific targets. The main goal is to improve the shooter's accuracy and skill with firearms. Through repeated pra ...

. According to the Finnish Interior Ministry, there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms in Finland, with around 430,000 licensed gun owners. That is equivalent to about 8% of the Finnish population. Finnish law provides no limit to the number of guns that can be owned per person. If the amount of personal firearms exceeds the amount of five, or if a firearm is classified as ”highly dangerous”, such as a semi-automatic pistol with a high capacity magazine, the weapons need to be "stored in such a way that they cannot easily be stolen". The age limit for a gun license in Finland is 18 years of age. Minors over the age of 15 can legally be permitted to use other people's firearms. The age limit for revolvers, which was the weapon used in the shooting, is set at 20 years of age. Previous fatal school shootings in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

led to a raised minimum age for gun ownership and increased background checks for prospective gun owners. It prompted the establishment of a "system of pre-emptive measures" allowing police to intervene if they received information on an "intent to stage an attack". An aptitude test for all gun licence applicants was introduced in 2010.

Shooting

The shooter took a photo of himself posing with the revolver before loading it and entering a classroom. He fired four shots inside of the classroom at 9:00. The police received a call about the shooting at 09:07 in the morning

UTC+2 UTC+02:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +02:00. In ISO 8601, the associated time would be written as 2020-11-08T23:41:45+02:00. As standard time (year-round) Principal cities: Pretoria, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban, Por ...

. The shooting occurred in a sixth-grade classroom in the Viertola school's Jokiranta campus. The campus has classes ranging from third to sixth grade. A 12-year-old boy, wearing a mask and noise-cancelling headphones, shot three of his classmates and fled. Police arrived at the scene at 09:17. A lockdown was implemented inside the school and in nearby educational institutions. Immediately after the shooting, a teacher arrived at the scene. The teacher managed to convince the alleged shooter to leave the classroom. After fleeing on foot, he fired several shots in the air, including one at a parked car. The police eventually found the suspect in the North Helsinki neighborhood of Siltamäki and took him into custody at 09:58. The revolver used in the attack was recovered as the police caught up with the shooter. Of the three victims, one was a boy and the other two were girls. The boy died immediately from being shot. The victims were all Finnish, but one of the girls was a

dual citizen Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

of Finland and

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. One of the surviving victims was discharged from hospital on 11 April.

Investigation

The police are treating the incident as one count of murder and two counts of attempted murder, as well as one count of an illegal threat. The legal owner of the handgun used in the shooting is being investigated for a firearms offence. The

handgun A handgun is a firearm designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun, long barreled gun (i.e., carbine, rifle, shotgun, submachine gun, or machine gun) which typically is intended to be held by both hands and br ...

used was licensed to and owned by a close relative of the shooter. The police stated that the motive for the shooting was bullying.

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

reported that the suspect had confessed to shooting the three students. The shooter stated that he had been bullied at school. However, the investigation by the police have not shown any evidence of bullying. The suspect had transferred to the school at the beginning of the semester. Due to the suspect being a minor, he will not face criminal charges in accordance to Finnish law. The shooter was placed in the care of

social services Social services are a range of public services intended to provide support and assistance towards particular groups, which commonly include the disadvantaged. Also available amachine-converted HTML They may be provided by individuals, private and i ...

. National Police Commissioner Seppo Kolehmainen stated that law enforcement had not received any information on an impending attack prior to the shooting. The shooter reportedly enjoyed using the internet to watch people die in videos. He also had a target list consisting of 15 names.

Reactions

Following the shooting, some called for the

age of criminal responsibility The age of criminal responsibility is the age below which a child is deemed incapable of having committed a criminal offence. In legal terms, it is referred to as a defence/defense of infancy, which is a form of defense known as an excuse so t ...

, which is currently at 15 years of age, to be lowered. The Viertola school reopened on 3 April on reduced hours, with crisis counselling sessions on offer. A national day of mourning was held on the 3rd of April, during which the

flag of Finland The national flag of Finland, also known in Finnish language, Finnish as the ' ('Blue Cross Flag'), dates from the beginning of the 20th century. On a white background, it features a blue Nordic Cross flag, Nordic cross, which represents Christ ...

was placed at

half-mast Half-mast or half-staff (American English) refers to a flag flying below the summit of a ship mast, a pole on land, or a pole on a building. In many countries this is seen as a symbol of respect, mourning, distress, or, in some cases, a sal ...

. Flowers and candles were laid down at the site of the attack. Official discussions about the shooting were held in schools across Vantaa. Students who witnessed the shooting would be having their lessons in a different building at the school. Prime Minister

Petteri Orpo Antti Petteri Orpo (; born 3 November 1969) is a Finland, Finnish politician currently serving as the prime minister of Finland since 2023 and as the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016. He briefly served as speaker of the Parliame ...

described the shooting as "deeply upsetting". He stated, that mental health issues of the Finnish youth must be tackled.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Alexander Stubb Cai-Göran Alexander Stubb (, born 1 April 1968) is a Finnish politician who has been the 13th president of Finland since 2024. He previously served as Prime Minister of Finland from 2014 to 2015. Rising in politics as a researcher specialis ...

also expressed shock at the shooting. He offered condolences to the families of the victims while wishing them a speedy recovery. Education Minister

Anna-Maja Henriksson Anna-Maja Kristina Henriksson (née Forss; born 7 January 1964) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish politician. She has served as Finland's Minister of Justice, in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet and Alexander Stubb's cabinet from 2011 to 2015, Antti Rinn ...

tearfully described the shooting as a "great tragedy". She stated, that her thoughts were with the "12-year-old who will never come home from school again".

Interior Minister An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a Cabinet (government), cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and iden ...

Mari Rantanen wrote on Twitter (X) that she "can only imagine the pain and worry that many families are experiencing at the moment." Deputy Prime Minister

Riikka Purra Riikka Katriina Purra (; born 13 June 1977) is a Finnish politician, serving as the Deputy Prime Minister of Finland, and Finance Minister, since 2023. She is also a member of the Parliament of Finland for the Finns Party for the Uusimaa consti ...

, referring to the shooting stated, that "these kinds of incidents should never happen." Leader of the Left Alliance and former Education Minister

Li Andersson Li Sigrid Andersson (born 13 May 1987) is a Finno-Swedish politician who served as Minister of Education from 2019 to 2023. A former leader of the Left Alliance, she was a Member of Parliament from 2015 to 2024. She is also a city councillor o ...

also described the incident as a major shock.

References

{{school shootings outside of the United States, state=collapsed 2024 murders in Finland April 2024 crimes in Europe April 2024 in Finland Deaths by firearm in Finland School killings in Finland School shootings in Finland Murder committed by minors Vantaa History of Uusimaa School shootings committed by pupils Attacks on schools in 2024 Child murder in Finland School shootings motivated by bullying

Background

Shooting

Investigation

Reactions

See also

References