Police reveal teacher’s heroic role in Vantaa school attack | Yle News

The 12-year-old suspect told police he had a ‘target list’ of 15 people he claimed were bullies and planned to hit as many of them as possible.

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Police investigating the deadly school shooting in Vantaa last spring have uncovered the pivotal role a teacher played in persuading the 12-year-old suspect to leave the school building, thus preventing further casualties.

In the incident where the suspect hit, a boy died and two girls were seriously injured. opened fire with a gun On the morning of April 2, in the sixth grade of the Viertola school.

In the early stages of the investigation, it was stated that the suspect carried out the attack because he was being bullied. police say now There is no evidence to support this claim.

During his interrogation, the suspect told the police that he had a ‘target list’ of 15 people who he claimed were bullies and that he planned to shoot as many of them as possible.

“You are going with me”

Police interviewed 28 students and several teachers during the preliminary investigation and said they had come to a clear understanding of the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.

The teacher who was in the classroom at the time of the shooting told police that the seriousness of the situation did not become apparent immediately, and that it took some time for many people in the class to realize that the gun was real.

Some students even thought the gun was part of an April Fool’s joke.

When the suspect started shooting, the teacher came out from behind the desk, approached him and pointed the gun at the teacher.

I told the teacher police something like “You need to stop now or calm down.”

When the child did not respond, the teacher asked a colleague in a nearby classroom for help.

“I walked up to him and told him to ‘calm down’ and ‘let’s figure this out, but we need to calm down first,'” the second teacher at the scene reportedly told the suspect.

The suspect then said that no one was allowed to leave the classroom, but the second teacher instructed him against it.

“I said, ‘No, the others are going somewhere else and you’re going with me,'” the teacher recalled.

According to the statements of the teachers and students interviewed by the police, the suspect followed this instruction and started to leave.

As the suspect moved towards the door, the teacher who was initially in the classroom began to help the injured as well as move the students to another classroom. The first teacher also informed the emergency service.

He then left the school grounds and was caught by police in Helsinki’s Siltamäki district.

He also told investigators that he fired the gun into the air several times after running outside and also shot at a parked car.

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Suspect’s parent: “It was a terrible shock”

During the preliminary investigation, police also received information from the suspect’s parents.

One of the boy’s parents told police they were at work when they heard a report about the Viertola school shooting. Their first thought was that their son might be a victim.

The mother and father told police, “I told my boss that I was leaving work. I intended to go home and see if my son had gone there because of the shooting.”

However, when the parents came home, they were told that their son was suspected to be the perpetrator.

“It was a terrible shock, I couldn’t understand it,” the parent said.

Later, a close relative of the family called his parents and told them that their gun was missing.

The suspect later told the police that he had taken the gun and ammunition from his relative’s gun cabinet a few days ago.

“That’s when I started to feel terrified, but I still didn’t want to believe it,” the parent said during police interrogation.