HELSINKI: A 12-year-old boy suspected of shooting and killing a classmate and wounding two girls at a school in Finland had likely planned the act, police said today.
Finland was still reeling from the shock of the shooting that occurred on Tuesday morning at a school in the country's fourth largest city Vantaa, just north of the capital here.
"The preliminary investigation has revealed facts that suggest that the act was planned," Detective Inspector Marko Sarkka, who leads the investigation, said in a statement.
"Searches of devices seized from the suspect's possession, such as a telephone and a computer, have revealed material that support this view," Sarkka added.
Police yesterday said the young suspect during questioning had said he had "been the victim of bullying" and that this had motivated the act.
Police also said the boy had only been a student at the Viertola school since the beginning of the year.
The child who was killed, a Finnish boy also aged 12, died at the scene, and the suspect had already fled the school by the time police arrived after receiving the report of the shooting shortly after 9am.
Still carrying a gun, the suspect was arrested in a "calm manner" within an hour of the shooting.
He is not criminally liable because of his age, hence cannot be detained but has been handed over to child welfare authorities.
The handgun used in the shooting belonged to a close relative of the boy, according to police, who said how he came by it was being investigated "as a separate firearms offence".
The two injured girls remained in hospital, police said, adding that they hoped to interview one of them in the coming days.
The Viertola school had around 90 staff and 800 pupils aged 7 to 15, and had remained opened in the days following the shooting, but pupils have had shorter days than usual.
Earlier, police said the investigation was progressing at "a very rapid pace given the circumstances", but noted that it would take months to finalise a preliminary investigation.
After opening an investigation into murder and attempted murder, they had forensically examined the crime scene and were continuing extensive hearings with students, parents, eyewitnesses and school staff. — AFP