Perussuomalaiset MP faces 3 charges in night club shooting case

Perussuomalaiset (Finns Party) lawmaker Timo Vornanen, who was arrested on April 26 for his alleged involvement in a shooting incident at a night club in Helsinki and later released, is suspected of three criminal charges, police said on Monday.

Although police did not mention the name of the suspect in the statement like the previous time, as per the description it was clear that the suspect is Vornanen, a lawmaker of Perussuomalaiset, the second largest component of the four-party alliance government, elected from Joensuu.

Police said that the 54-year- old man pointed gun at two people in front of Ihku night club at Antinkatu area and fired gunshot into the ground with his small-caliber firearm.

He is suspected of illegal threat, creating danger to public life and firearms offence.

At the preliminary stage of the investigation the reason behind the incident was not clear as the witnesses of the incidents were not available for interviews.

“The police were able to interview the suspect on Friday afternoon. Over the weekend, the police conducted interrogations and reviewed the surveillance camera footage, which made the incident at the outside of the restaurant clear,” said the head of the investigation, Detective Inspector Jukka Larkio.

The MP was arrested on April 26 and released on April 27.

Vornanen discharged his duty as a senior police constable at the Eastern Finland Police Department for more than 20 years before being elected a lawmaker in 2023 and now on leave for the parliamentary term.