Finland school shooting update: Police determine bullying as motive while country mourns

To mark a day of grief, public buildings across Finland lowered their flags.

The Finnish government designated Wednesday a national day of mourning, ordering state agencies and institutions to lower their flags to half-mast.

Bullying was the purpose behind a school shooting in Finland that killed a 12-year-old child on Tuesday morning, Finnish police claimed in a statement.

The accused attacker, also 12, was caught and taken into custody following Tuesday's incident at Viertola School in Vantaa, on the outskirts of Helsinki.

"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," said a police statement. "The suspect had transferred to the Viertola school at the beginning of this year" , according to the report.

The shooter and the victims were all classmates, and the two injured girls remain in the hospital.

Police have launched an inquiry into a murder and attempted murder that was carried out with "a revolver-like handgun."

As the suspect is 12-year-old, he cannot be held criminally accountable and has been placed under the care of social services.

To mark a day of grief, public buildings across Finland lowered their flags beginning at 08:00 local time on Wednesday.

Finnish blue-and-white flags were flown at half-staff, while scores of people, including parents, teachers and classmates, left flowers and lit candles in the snowy landscape near the school building where the shooting took place.

Many individual households across Finland participated in the memorial.

To read also:

Finland: One child dead and two severely injured after school shooting

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