A local politician has been shot and killed alongside two journalists in a tiny town in Finland, called Imatra.
The three women were shot dead by a man with a hunting rifle, while they were standing out the front of a restaurant at around midnight.
A 23-year-old local man was detained at the scene, with some reports saying he simply sat in a car and calmly waited for the police to arrive to the scene. He reportedly also has a criminal record, which has remained unreleased to the public.
Police arrived to the scene extremely quickly, and have stated that they haven’t found a motive for the attack on the three women. Detective Inspector Saku Tielinen told a press conference:
“At the moment, it looks like the victims were chosen at random.”
The town has now opened a crisis centre, due to there being were many witnesses on the busy street – the attack has reportedly left Imatra residents in a state of shock.
The politician in the tragic incident has been named as Tiina Wilen-Jappinen, and she was chairwoman of the Imatra City Council.
The journalists have not been named as of yet, but it’s being reported that one woman was in her 30s, and the other was in her 50s.
Crime rates are generally quite low in Finland, but they have high levels of gun ownership and hunting. Gun laws were heavily tightened after two fatal school shootings in the last decade.
We’ll update this story as more information arises.
Source: The Guardian.
Photo: Twitter / @AmichaiStein1.
