Mourners gather outside Finnish school shooter killed one 12-year-old and wounded 2 others

By JARI TANNER
Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — Mourners have gathered outside a southern Finland school, a day after a shooter killed a 12-year-old boy and seriously wounded two girls the same age. The suspected shooter, a sixth-grader who attended the school, was apprehended less than an hour later. The shooting shocked this Nordic nation where the Finnish blue-and-white flags on Wednesday were hoisted at half-mast and scores of people laid flowers and lit candles in the snowy landscape. Following shootings in 2007 and in 2008, Finland tightened its gun laws by raising the minimum age for firearms ownership and giving police greater powers to make background checks on individuals applying for a gun license.