A 73-year-old man has shot a police officer to death with an automatic weapon and seriously wounded another after they approached a remote countryside property where gunfire had been reported, Finnish police said Saturday.
Police in Vihti, northwest of Helsinki, dispatched several officers to the property late Friday. They were targeted by gunfire as they approached the house and one shot fatally wounded a 30-year-old policeman and seriously wounded another. The condition of the wounded policeman was not immediately known.
The shooter eventually committed suicide, possibly by shooting himself, police told a news conference.
President Sauli Niinisto said Saturday the Nordic country was “upset” and Interior Minister Petteri Orpo wrote on Twitter that he was “shocked.”
Since Finland’s independence from Russia in 1917, 130 police officers have been killed while on duty, according to Finnish police. Finnish broadcaster YLE said the last time that happened was in 2007.