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 @VOTANewsNorthernPublicPolicechildrenstudentsDaily DiscussionMayorHospital•••2yrs ago

Finnish Police Say Bullying Was Motive For School Shooting

Finnish police said on Wednesday the motive for a school shooting on the outskirts of Helsinki on Tuesday, in which one 12-year-old died, was bullying.

"The suspect has said during interrogations that he was the target of bullying, and this information has also been confirmed in the preliminary investigation by the police," police said in a statement.

A 12-year-old suspected of shooting dead a boy at his school and seriously wounding two girls was motivated by bullying, Finnish police say.

The boy was detained some distance from his school in Vantaa on Tuesday morning an hour after he opened fire on other children.

His three victims were also aged 12. The two girls are still in hospital.

Public buildings across Finland lowered their flags from 08:00 (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday to mark a day of mourning.

In a statement, police said the boy had been transferred at the start of this year to Viertola school in Vantaa, to the north of the capital, Helsinki.

They said the suspect told them he had been bullied after he was detained in the Siltamaki area of northern Helsinki, almost 4km (2.5 miles) from the scene of the shooting. Their initial investigation supported that conclusion, they added.

Police have opened an investigation into murder and attempted murder. However, because of his age, the suspect cannot be held criminally responsible and has now been handed to the care of social services.

Police also revealed the suspect had threatened students on their way to school in the Siltamaki area.

According to Finnish TV channel MTV Uutiset, he wore a mask and noise-cancelling headphones while carrying out the shooting at Viertola school.

The school was open on Wednesday, but Katri Kalske, the deputy mayor of Vantaa, said that it would close earlier than usual

5 Replies

 @VOTAasked…2yrs2Y

If a student is being bullied and feels unheard, what steps should they take to ensure their voice is heard?

 @VOTAasked…2yrs2Y

Should the age of the individual involved change how we view and address the consequences of such violent actions?

 @VOTAasked…2yrs2Y

How can communities support both victims and perpetrators in the aftermath of school-related violence to foster healing and prevent future incidents?

 @VOTAasked…2yrs2Y

How do you think schools should address bullying before it escalates into violence?

 @VOTAasked…2yrs2Y

In what ways can students contribute to creating a safer school environment to prevent extreme incidents like shootings?

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…11mos11MO

Trump’s Doom vs. Harris’s Hope as America Decides Its Fate

Donald J. Trump and Kamala Harris closed out their campaigns in the final hours before Election Day in starkly different moods: The former president, often appearing drained at arenas that were not filled, claimed that the country was on the brink of ruin, while the vice president promised a more united future as energized supporters chanted alongside her, “We’re not going back.”In stop after stop, the presidential rivals essentially offered up two competing versions of reality on Monday and into early Tuesday. Mr. Trump repeatedly raised the specter of unchecked immigration and the dangers of Democratic policies as he spoke to crowds in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before closing with a midnight rally in Michigan.With a comparatively more optimistic message, Ms. Harris crisscrossed Pennsylvania, which holds 19 electoral votes that could decide the race. Stopping in Scranton, Allentown and Pittsburgh before a nighttime rally in Philadelphia, Ms. Harris talked about bolstering the economy and restoring federal abortion rights. She asserted that Americans were “exhausted” and ready to move on from the politics of the past decade.About 30 miles to the southwest, Mr. Trump was in Reading, Pa., broadly portraying undocumented immigrants as mentally ill criminals and calling those accused of crimes “savages” and “animals.”Both leaned on Hispanic supporters as they tried to rally Latino voters. The pro-Harris rapper Fat Joe, who is Puerto Rican, practically shamed his fellow Latinos in Allentown as he asked, “Where’s your pride?” Mr. Trump, still facing fallout from his rally in New York at which a comedian called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” brought Roberto Clemente Jr., the son of the Puerto Rican baseball legend, to the stage at a rally in Pittsburgh.But Mr. Trump, reaching the end of a grueling marathon of a campaign that began in 2022, looked visibly weary, battling fatigue in front of listless crowds, though he was relatively more upbeat and energized in Michigan. Ms. Harris, still appearing fresh after a three-month sprint, appealed for unity and pressed the contrast to her rival without uttering his name.“The measure of a true leader is based not on who you beat down,” she said. “It is based on who you lift up.”Despite the sharply different tones, polls suggest the race remains tight, with the final New York Times/Siena College surveys showing the candidates tied or holding only narrow leads in all of the seven battleground states.

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