Imatra Shooting
The Imatra shooting refers to a tragic incident that occurred on December 4, 2016, in Imatra, Finland, where a 23-year-old local man shot and killed three women at a shopping center using a hunting rifle. Among the victims was Tiina Wilen-Jappinen, the chair of the Imatra city council. The attack raised significant concerns regarding social exclusion and mental health, prompting Finland's Minister of the Interior, Paula Risikko, to advocate for better support services for individuals feeling socially detached. Prime Minister Juha Sipilä acknowledged that despite Finland's reputation as a safe country, it was not immune to such acts of violence. The investigation revealed that the victims were chosen at random and indicated no ideological motives behind the attack. The perpetrator, who had a prior criminal record, confessed to the killings, and authorities suggested that mental health issues could have played a role in his actions. Overall, the event sparked discussions about violence, gun ownership, and social alienation within Finnish society.
Subject Terms
Imatra Shooting
Date: December 4, 2016
Place: Imatra, Finland
Summary
The Imatra shooting was a crime that occurred in the Finnish town of Imatra, when a twenty-three-year-old local resident shot and killed three women at a local shopping center.
Key Figures
Paula Risikko: Finnish minister of the interior who gave statements about the Imatra shootings.
Juha Sipilä: Prime Minister of Finland.
Tiina Wilen-Jappinen: Chair of Imatra city council, killed in the shootings.
Saku Tielinen: Police officer in charge of leading the investigation into the shootings
Key Events
- December 4, 2016—A twenty-three-year-old local man kills three women in Imatra, Finland, with a hunting rifle.
Status
As of March 2017, Finnish officials had not released the identity of the individual who committed the Imatra shootings in December of 2016. The day after the shooting, Finnish minister of the interior Paula Risikko called on the nation to do more to combat the phenomenon of social exclusion, which police believed was a factor behind the attack. Risikko argued that there was insufficient availability of low-threshold support services for persons feeling detached from social and community circles. Finnish prime minister Juha Sipilä told press that, although Finland was one of the safest countries in the world, the nation was not immune to acts of violence like the one that occurred in Imatra.
Finland, with a population of 5.4 million, has relatively low levels of gun violence, despite high levels of private gun ownership due to the popularity of hunting in local culture. After two school shootings in 2007 and 2008, the government of Finland passed new legislation limiting handgun ownership to persons aged twenty years or older and requiring a two-year probationary period for anyone looking to purchase a handgun.
In-Depth Overview
Imatra is a small town in eastern Finland, with its center located approximately four miles (seven kilometers) from the Russian border. The town was officially established in 1948 and has a population of just over 27,700 people. Hunting is a major sport in the region, due to the proximity of woodlands with a variety of wild game. Because of the popularity of hunting in the region, and in the nation as a whole, Finland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe, with an estimated 650,000 citizens legally possessing firearms.
On December 4, 2016, just before 12:00 a.m., an unidentified man parked his vehicle near the Vuoksenvahti Restaurant in downtown Imatra, retrieved a hunting rifle from the back of his car, and opened fire on patrons leaving the restaurant. Native resident Tiina Wilen-Jappinen, chair of the Imatra city council and a member of the Social Democrat Party, was killed in the attack. Two other women, neither identified to the press but both said to be journalists, were also shot and killed. Police said that the victims received wounds to their heads and torsos.
After the shooting, the perpetrator, a twenty-three-year-old man who was not identified by the police, returned to his vehicle. A police car, assigned to patrol the area, arrived shortly after the shooting and the suspect surrendered himself to the police without resistance. As soon as the incident was publicized, users on social media sites like Reddit speculated about the shooting, with some theorizing that the shooter was targeting Russian victims or that the shooter was a right-wing extremist. By the next morning, the rumor that the shooting was a terrorist incident had spread through the nation. Misinformation circulated about the incident was later attributed, in part, to the police decision not to release any information about the incident until the following morning. Police spokespeople argued that they felt releasing information prematurely would damage the integrity of the case.
A press statement delivered by police officer Saku Tielinin, the detective in charge of the investigation, definitively stated that the victims appeared to have been chosen at random and that interviews with the suspect had revealed no overarching ideological motives for the attack. The police reiterated to the press that there was no evidence to suggest that the shooting was an act of terrorism or that the suspect had any political, religious, or other social or cultural agenda. Police revealed that the perpetrator was known to police and had been arrested before. In 2013 he had been sentenced to more than three years in prison for a stabbing attack on an individual. The police further revealed that no alcohol or drugs were found in the perpetrator's blood after the incident.
Police also eventually released a statement indicating that the perpetrator had confessed to the killings. In a press release, the police hypothesized that possible mental health issues may have been a factor. The press release also called attention to the issue of "social alienation," a sociological concept referring to difficulty in building social relationships and a lack of feeling connected with one's community or society.
Bibliography
Gunman kills three women in Finland. (2016, December 4). The Telegraph. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/04/gunman-shoots-dead-three-women-finland-town/
Finland shooting: Three women killed in Imatra. (2016, December 4). BBC News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38201619
Summers, H. (2016, December 4). Finland shooting: Three women killed outside Imatra restaurant. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/04/three-women-shot-dead-outside-restaurant-finland
Teivainen, A. (2016, December 6). Police: Imatra triple-murder suspect unwilling to co-operate in interrogations. Helsinki Times. Retrieved from http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/14395-police-triple-murder-suspect-unwilling-to-co-operate-in-interrogations.html
Teivainen, A. (2016, December 8). Finland must to more to combat social exclusion, says Risikko. Helsinki Times. Retrieved from http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/14400-finland-must-do-more-to-combat-social-exclusion-says-risikko.html
Teivainen, A. (2016, December 8). Imatra suspect detained for probable cause of three murders. Helsinki Times. Retrieved from http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/14399-imatra-suspect-detained-for-probable-cause-of-three-murders.html
Teivainen, A. (2017, February 22). Police: Suspect confessed to shooting that left three dead in Imatra in December. Helsinki Times. Retrieved from http://www.helsinkitimes.fi/finland/finland-news/domestic/14556-police-suspect-confessed-to-shooting-that-left-three-dead-in-imatra-in-december.html