The Hyvinkää shooting occurred on 26 May 2012 in the Finnish town of Hyvinkää when 18-year-old Eero Samuli Hiltunen shot and killed two people and wounded seven others with a .22-caliber

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

and a .308-caliber scoped bolt-action hunting rifle.

Details

Around 1:53 a.m., a gunman wearing camouflage clothing opened fire from a low rooftop, aiming at people gathered outside a restaurant. An 18-year-old woman died at the scene, while a 19-year-old man later died in a local hospital; both were students at the Hyria Vocational Institute."Two dead, seven injured in Hyvinkaa shooting incident in Finland"
/ref> The male victim Topi Koistinen (b. 1993), was a pesäpallo player of the Finnish premier division side

Hyvinkään Tahko Hyvinkään Tahko is a Finnish sports club from Hyvinkää. It was founded in 1915. Hyvinkää Tahko has participated in many sports in Finland over the years, such as athletics, skiing and orienteering. Since 1980, the club's main successes have ...

. Two other Tahko players were wounded. Among the wounded was also 24-year-old police officer Heidi Foxell, herself a goalkeeper of the HJK Helsinki women's football squad. Some five hours after the shooting, authorities arrested the gunman, identified as 18-year-old Eero Samuli Hiltunen, who had no criminal background and was believed to have acted alone. The only motive given by the gunman was that he lost an impromptu "wrestling match" on the way to a bar with four other men. The gunman had been in psychiatric treatment earlier. Nevertheless, he was found competent to stand trial in a psychiatric evaluation. On 28 February 2013, Hiltunen was sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

for the shootings. On 16 October 2020, Hiltunen escaped from prison after being put on leave. A few hours later, he was recaptured.

Reactions

Finland's President

Sauli Niinistö Sauli Väinämö Niinistö (; born 24 August 1948) is a Finnish politician who has served as president of Finland since March 2012, the 12th person to hold that office. A lawyer by education, Niinistö was Chairman of the National Coalition Part ...

expressed condolences to the family members of the victims. The Finnish pesäpallo league

Superpesis The Superpesis, known as SM-sarja from 1955 to 1989, is the top professional pesäpallo league in Finland. It was created in 1990 to replace the SM-sarja which was fundamentally an amateur league. The Superpesis is directly overseen by the Finnis ...

cancelled matches of the weekend and the women's football league

Naisten Liiga The Kansallinen Liiga ('National League') is the premier division of women's football in Finland. It was previously called the Jalkapallon naisten SM-sarja ('Women's Football Finnish Championship Series') during 1974 to 2006 and the Naisten Lii ...

changed its schedule.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyvinkaa shooting Shooting 2012 murders in Europe Spree shootings in Finland May 2012 crimes 2012 murders in Finland Mass shootings in Finland 2012 mass shootings in Europe