Finland School Shooting: One Dead, 12-Year-Old Detained

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Facts

• A 12-year-old suspect has been arrested for allegedly killing a child and critically injuring two others in a school shooting in Finland on Tuesday.¹
• Officers were called to the Viertola school in Vantaa, a suburb of Finland’s capital, Helsinki, at around 9 a.m. local time.²
• Before they arrested the suspect an hour later in the suburb of Siltamaki, the police had cordoned off the school building and asked locals to remain indoors.³
• According to the police, the suspect, a student at the same school who fled on foot after the shooting, used a licensed handgun owned by a close relative.⁴
• Since children under 15 are not criminally responsible in Finland, the suspect has been placed in the care of social services while he is being investigated for charges of murder and attempted murder.⁵
• Following the deadly school shootings in 2007 and 2008, Finland tightened its gun legislation and raised the minimum age for firearms ownership. The Nordic nation of 5.6M has more than 1.5M licensed firearms holders.⁶

Sources: ¹Guardian, ²Washington Post, ³Sky News, ⁴CNN, ⁵BBC News and ⁶CBS.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Reuters. Tuesday's tragedy should act as a wake-up call. Allowing children to have licenses to use someone else's weapon or considering lowering the legal age to carry a firearm could spiral the world's happiest country into one where unacceptable youth gun violence is more prevalent.
• Narrative B, as provided by New York Times. Due to strict gun laws, school shootings are extremely rare in a country of hunters and gun enthusiasts. As the motive isn't clear yet, it's too early to blame the Finnish gun owners for Tuesday's deeply upsetting shooting.