Finnish police say bullying was motive for school shooting

HELSINKI: A 12-year-old boy who shot and killed a fellow sixth-grader and severely injured two others at a school in Finland has said he was a target of bullying and that this was the motive for his attack, police said on Wednesday.

The boy on Tuesday brought a relative’s revolver to Viertola school near Helsinki and shot the three 12-year-olds and threatened several others. He had transferred to the school at the start of 2024, investigators said.

Finland held a national day of mourning on Wednesday, with flags on public buildings flown at half-mast in a sign of respect for the dead child.

The two other pupils remained in hospital,with what police said were life-threatening injuries.

“We just found out today that there was this bullying behind the tragedy,” lead investigator Detective Chief Inspector Marko Sarkka told Reuters. He declined to elaborate.

Police have not said whether the attacker sought to target any specific individuals.

Finland has seen a rising level of bullying in schools, with 8.6 percent of pupils who are now around 12 years old saying they had been targeted at least once a week, up from 7.2 percent in 2019, according to a 2023 study by public health institute THL.

The permit for the revolver used in Tuesday’s attack belonged to a relative of the suspect, police said. It was not immediately clear how the shooter had obtained the weapon.