Flag to hoist at half-mast as Finland mourns school shooting victims

The nation is mourning the tragic incident occurred at a school in Vantaa where one student was gunned down and two others sustained bullet wounds when their classmate opened fire on them on Tuesday.

People from all strata including the President, Prime Minister, leaders of the ruling and opposition political parties and state ombudsman for child affairs expressed profound shock and condolences to the family and friends of the victims.

The government decided to hoist the national flags at half-mast and the parliament decided to observe a moment silence on Wednesday at the beginning of the plenary session to mourn the death of the student.

President Alexander Stubb in a post on social media platform X express his condolence to the family members of the deceased.

"The incident in Vantaa shocked me. I offer my deepest condolences to the family of the deceased schoolboy. I hope for strength for the recovery of the wounded. All of the students and staff of the school are in my thoughts," Stubb wrote in his post in Finnish.

Prime Minister Petteri Orpo in a statement expressed shock on behalf of himself and the government to mourn the victims, said a government press release on Tuesday.

“This incident is deeply upsetting. On my own behalf and on behalf of the Government, I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of the deceased child. In addition, two children were seriously injured. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the pupils and staff of Viertola school,” said the Premier.

He said it is important that the pupils, staff and families receive all the support they need.

“Today (Tuesday) and in the next few days, we need to be there for children and young people, to offer words of comfort and show them we care. They may be scared, and they may have questions. It is important that we talk about the incident in our homes,” he said.

Orpo said to children and young people all over Finland that the Finnish authorities and school staff do their utmost every day to prevent incidents like this from happening.

“The circumstances that led to this incident are being thoroughly investigated, and we will be able to draw conclusions later. Schools must be a safe place for both pupils and employees,” he added.

The first vice-chair of the main opposition party in parliament Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue (Social Democratic Party of Finland-SDP), Nasima Razmyar also expressed shock in a post on her social media platform X.

"Shocking news. This should never be happened. Thoughts are now with those victims, their families, the school community and the authorities," Razmyar wrote in Finnish.

News agency Xinhua adds: The state ombudsman for child affairs, Elina Pekkarinen, told the Finnish News Agency STT that police statistics reflect an increase of violence committed by teenagers aged under 15, targeting others in the same age group.

"But there has not been enough political will to tackle the situation," she added.

Pekkarinen said that it is unusual that a 12-year-old is suspect in such a serious act. She acknowledged the current cabinet has launched an overall reform of the child protection laws.

A student of a school in Vantaa was killed and two others were critically injured when another student of the school attacked them with firearm on Tuesday morning.