Finnish police announced today that bullying was the motive for yesterday's shooting at a school near Helsinki, in which a 12-year-old child died, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"The suspect said he had been harassed and this information was confirmed during the police investigation," law enforcement said in a statement.
The boy who committed yesterday's shooting brought his relative's weapon to the "Viertola" school. near Helsinki and shot three 12-year-old children. The perpetrator was transferred to the school in early 2024, investigators said.
Flags in the country were at half-mast today in memory of the deceased student. The other two children remain in hospital.
"Today we discovered that bullying was the motive for the tragedy," investigator Marco Sarka told Reuters.
A preliminary police investigation confirmed the boy had been molested, investigators said in a separate statement. Sarka declined to provide information on the matter. Police have not said whether the attack was aimed at specific students.
Finland has seen a rise in bullying in schools, with 8.6% of students around the age of 12 saying they were bullied at least once a week, compared to 7 in 2019. 2%, according to a study from last year carried out by the Finnish Institute of Health.
The permit for the weapon used in the attack belonged to a relative of the suspect, police said. It is still unclear how the attacker got hold of it.
"This matter is being investigated by police separately," investigators said.