A SIXTH-GRADE STUDENT, 12 years old, was killed in the shooting at the Jokiranta branch of Viertola School in Vantaa on Tuesday morning, the police noted in a statement on Tuesday evening.
The victim died at the scene. Two sixth graders at the school were seriously injured in the shooting. One of the injured victims is an Albanian girl from Kosovo, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo.
The Helsinki University Hospital (HUS) noted in a statement that the injured were being treated at the New Children’s Hospital.
Two guardians of a child who witnessed the incident told the Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat that the shooting happened in a classroom. According to one of the guardians who spoke to the paper, there had been a religion lesson in the classroom at the beginning of the day.
The shooting happened at the beginning of the second lesson of the day. The lesson had been scheduled to include music.
The suspect, a 12-year-old boy at the school, was arrested at around 10:00 in the morning in Siltamäki, Helsinki. He was fleeing on foot and was found in possession of a firearm.
According to police, the handgun was licensed and the permit belonged to a close relative of the suspect.
The police are investigating the shooting as a murder and two counts of attempted murder.
