Parents urge action after Finnish police link school shooting to bullying

The Star

The 12-year-old boy who shot and killed a fellow sixth-grader and severely injured two others at a school in Vantaa, Finland, has stated that he was a target of bullying, which motivated his attack.  Parents visiting a makeshift memorial outside the school on Wednesday (April 3), said that authorities need to act more quickly to eradicate bullying.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 A tragic school shooting in Vantaa, Finland, has been linked to bullying.

00:06 The 12-year-old suspect, who fatally shot a classmate and wounded two others, told police

00:11 his actions were motivated by being a victim of bullying.

00:15 The boy, who had recently transferred to Vyartola School near Helsinki in early 2024, brought

00:21 a relative's revolver to school on Tuesday.

00:23 He shot three students and threatened several others.

00:27 Police have not yet determined how the child obtained the weapon.

00:30 Finland has observed a rise in incidents of bullying within schools.

00:34 A study conducted in 2023 by the Public Health Institute, THL, revealed that 8.6 percent

00:42 of 12-year-old students reported experiencing bullying at least once weekly, an increase

00:47 from 7.2 percent in 2019.

00:50 Parents at a memorial outside the school on Wednesday expressed frustration, calling for

00:55 faster action from authorities to address bullying.

00:58 Yesterday, it was about 24 hours ago when the first news came about this situation.

01:06 And of course, I was very horrified at the first minute, especially when it came out

01:12 that the shooter was only 12 years old and all the victims were very, very young.

01:18 And of course, I feel very terrified and thinking all the time, how is this possible and what

01:23 possibly happened before that shooting.

01:26 And of course, my thoughts and all the prayers and good mind is now with all the victims

01:35 and all the families.

01:37 I would like to see teachers and adults react to these messages faster, because their

01:44 system, I don't know, it works like this everywhere in all schools or only here,

01:49 that they discuss a lot for a very long time, hold meetings for a long time.

01:53 That is, there is not enough resources.

01:55 I want more resources so that these incidents, they understand the depth of this problem,

02:01 solve it and solve it right away.

02:03 [Sounds of children playing]

02:09 [Russian]

02:37 In a show of national mourning, the Finnish government declared a day of mourning and

02:42 ordered flags to be flown at half-mast.

02:45 The two injured pupils remain hospitalized.

02:48 [Sounds of fire]

02:54 [Silence]

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