A 12-year-old boy shot his classmates two years ago at Viertola School in Vantaa, Finland. Now his grandfather has been convicted of a violation of possession and use of firearms – for handing over a gun to a child, leaving him unattended, reports public media “Yle”.
One sixth-grader was killed and two others were injured after a boy opened fire in the classroom on the morning of April 2, 2024. The East Usim district court sentenced the 69-year-old man to a six-month suspended prison sentence.
The boy spent the Easter holidays at his grandfather’s house, and the two practiced target shooting, after which he asked the boy to take the revolver and ammunition to the gun cabinet upstairs. However, he did not check later to see if it was indeed safely stored in the cupboard.
The grandfather has no previous criminal record. He admitted committing a firearms offence. Although the 12-year-old boy was suspected of murder and two attempted murders, his case was not handed over to prosecutors because the age of criminal responsibility in Finland is 15.
