Image: Vesa Winberg / Yle

A fatal shooting occurred at midnight on Saturday in the city of Imatra, where a 23-year-old assailant killed three women with a rifle, police say.

One of the victims was the chair of the Imatra City Council, and the two others were local print journalists. Police deny all rumours surrounding the motivation of the crime, which they are treating as murder.

The hunting rifle used in the murder had a permit, but did not belong to the attacker, police say.

The shooter has been apprehended and the scene of the crime, restaurant Vuoksenvahti, has been cordoned off.

"The persons were exiting the restaurant when they were fired upon," Yle reporter Jari Tanskanen said on site this morning. "People here are devastated."

Course of events

Police received an alert at 00.00 on Saturday of a man with a gun in front of restaurant Vuoksenvahti. Police were some 300 metres from the scene at the time of the call.

Image: Yle Uutisgrafiikka

As the patrol came nearer to the scene local people directed the police to the front of the restaurant, where the situation was described as hectic. A 23-year-old man was pointed out and allegedly identified as the shooter.

The man was standing in front of a parked car in front of the restaurant. He followed police orders and was apprehended without incident.

Three lifeless female bodies were found lying in front of the restaurant. The women had sustained gunshot wounds to the head and torso. No other victims are reported.

An ambulance and several police patrols also arrived at the scene. The suspect has not yet been interrogated.

Police say they do not yet know the alleged shooter's motive for the crime. The man is suspected to have used a rifle to carry out the shooting.

Emergency crisis centre opened

A local emergency crisis centre has been opened in Imatra for all those shocked by the crime. The crisis centre at Olavinkatu 13 has church and volunteer rescue workers on hand.

A small number of people have already visited the crisis centre, which will remain open until 7 p.m. on Sunday. A possible extension to the opening hours of the centre will be considered later today Sunday.

"We are working closely with law enforcement and the rescue services," says Saara Raudasoja from the South Karelia Social and Health Care District. "We all react strongly when people die. We have rehearsed crisis situations and health workers are on site to help those upset by the events of last night."

Edited to include updated information.</s>A local council chief and two journalists have been shot dead outside a restaurant in a town in south-eastern Finland, police said.

A 23-year-old local man has been detained for questioning.

The victims, all women, were gunned down in a pedestrian area outside a restaurant late on Saturday in Imatra, moments before a police patrol car arrived at the scene, said police spokeswoman Heli Jamsen-Turkki.

Police said two of the women were in their early 50s and one was in her 30s

Local council chief Tiina Wilén-Jäppinen is believed to be among the victims.

The women were shot multiple times in the head and torso with a rifle.

Saku Tielinen, who is leading the investigation, said the suspect had a criminal record, including for violent incidents and theft but declined to identify him or give more details.

"There is no indication of a political motive. It seems the gunman and victims didn't know each other," Tielinen said. "All indications are that he chose his victims randomly."

Investigators will question him later Sunday.

The suspect arrived outside the restaurant in his car and shot the three women as they stepped out of the restaurant.

He then waited in the car until police arrived and accompanied officers silently and peacefully, police said.

Imatra, which has 28,000 inhabitants, is about 140 miles (230km) east of the capital, Helsinki.

"We decided to open a crisis centre after the shooting occurred right in the middle of the town near restaurants and nightclubs," said Saara Raudasoja, a spokeswoman for the South Karelia Social and Health Care District.

"There were people there when it happened. In such a small place, it's quite a huge incident and many people were shocked."</s>HELSINKI (AP) — A gunman killed a local town councilor and two journalists, all women, in an apparent random shooting in a nightlife district in a small town in southeastern Finland, police said Sunday. A male suspect has been detained.

The chairwoman of Imatra Town Council and two local reporters were gunned down in a pedestrian area outside a restaurant in the town just before a police patrol car arrived to the scene around midnight Saturday, police spokeswoman Heli Jamsen-Turkki said. Police said two of the victims were in their early 50s and one was in her 30s.

Police detained a 23-year-old local man who didn’t resist arrest. The three victims were shot multiple times in the head and torso with a rifle. There was no known motive.

Imatra, which has 28,000 inhabitants, is about 230 kilometers (140 miles) east of the capital, Helsinki.

“We decided to open a crisis center after the shooting occurred right in the middle of the town near restaurants and nightclubs,” said Saara Raudasoja, a spokeswoman for the South Karelia Social and Health Care District. “There were people there when it happened. In such a small place, it’s quite a huge incident and many people were shocked.”

In Finland, a country of 5.4 million people with strong hunting traditions, there are 650,000 officially recognized gun owners although homicides with guns are unusual. But after two fatal school shootings early this decade, gun laws have been tightened.</s>Three women including a local politician and two journalists were shot dead with a rifle in front of a restaurant in the small Finnish town of Imatra around midnight, police said on Sunday.

A 23-year-old local man with a criminal record was detained at the scene, the Southeastern Finland Police Department said.

It said the motive for the killings remained unclear.

“At the moment, it looks like the victims were chosen at random,” Det Insp Saku Tielinen told a news conference.

Victim Tiina Wilen-Jappinen was chairwoman of Imatra City Council while the other two women were journalists, the police said.</s>A makeshift candlelight memorial was set up outside the Vuoksenvahti restaurant in the small Finnish town of Imatra, where three women were killed on December 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Hannu Rissanen)

Helsinki (AFP) - A lone gunman shot dead three women, a local official and two journalists, in an attack in a small town in Finland, a country with one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world.

Police said on Sunday they believed the 23-year-old suspect, who was swiftly arrested after the night-time shooting on Saturday, acted alone and initial indications were that there was no political or extremist motive.

The attack took place as the women were leaving a restaurant in the southeastern lakeside town of Imatra near the Russian border, and police said they may have been targeted at random.

Investigators identified the victims as the head of the municipal council and two local reporters for the Uutisvuoksi newspaper, the STT news agency said.

A police statement said the women had died at the scene after being shot at close range, sustaining gunshot wounds to the head or torso.

The suspect, a local man, did not put up any resistance to his arrest and the weapon was found in the boot of his car.

The gun belonged to an unidentified person who had a hunting licence, police said, indicating that the inquiry would seek to establish how it was in the suspect's possession.

Finland enjoys relatively low crime rates compared to other European nations but, with many Finns keen hunters, it has one of the biggest gun ownership rates in the world.

The violence shocked Imatra, a small town of 27,500 people in southeastern Finland which lies just a few kilometres (miles) from the Russian border.

Outside the restaurant where the shooting took place several makeshift memorials were set up with dozens of candles and other items including a rag doll in a woolly hat.

In a posting on its website, the town council said it had set up a counselling facility for residents affected by the bloodshed.

The suspect, who already has a record for violence, was interrogated by police on Sunday but his motive remained unclear.

"Nothing demonstrates that he came (specifically) to kill these three women," Saku Tielinen, head of the investigation, told a news conference.

There was no initial indication that the triple murder was "linked to political issues or extremism", police said, adding that they were not looking for any other suspects.

Imatra mayor Pertti Lintunen confirmed to STT that Tiina Wilen-Jappinen, the local council's Social-Democrat leader who was in her early 50s, was among the victims.

The names of the two journalists, one of whom was of a similar age while the second was in her mid-30s, were not released.

"I'm very shocked. This is incomprehensible and it shouldn't happen. Something like this is inexplicable," said Lintunen.

Finland has seen several deadly shootings over the past decade, all by young men.

Figures in the Small Arms Survey, carried out by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, found Finland to be fourth in the civilian gun-ownership ranks, behind the United States, Yemen and Switzerland.

In November 2007, eight people were killed in a high school north of the capital Helsinki by an 18-year-old who later killed himself.

Less than a year later, a 22-year-old shot and killed 10 people, nine students and a teacher, in a classroom at a cooking school in the western city of Kauhajoki before also committing suicide.

And in May 2012, two people were killed and seven more wounded after a shooting near Helsinki by another 18-year-old. The attacker is currently serving life in prison.</s>Police investigators at the area were three women were killed in a shooting incident at a restaurant in Imatra, Eastern Finland after midnight on December 4, 2016.

HELSINKI (Reuters) - A local politician and two journalists, all of them women, were shot dead with a rifle in front of a restaurant in the Finnish town of Imatra, police said on Sunday.

The Southeastern Finland Police Department said it suspected a 23-year-old local man drove to the scene around midnight on Saturday, took a hunting rifle from the trunk of his car and fired four or five shots.

The suspect, who has criminal record of violent offences, was detained at the scene. The motive for the killings remained unclear.

"It looks like the victims were chosen at random," Detective Inspector Saku Tielinen told a news conference, adding that a political motive seemed unlikely.

Victim Tiina Wilen-Jappinen was chairwoman of Imatra City Council. The other two women were journalists from a local newspaper, the police said.

"She (Wilen-Jappinen) was liked, nice and bright person. This is truly shocking," Mayor Pertti Lintunen told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat's online version.

The gun was a permitted hunting rifle but it did not belong to the suspect, police said.

Finland shares an 833-mile (1,340 km) border with Russia and has sought exceptions from proposed European Union restrictions on firearms, citing defense needs.

"Finland is one of the safest countries in the world, but unfortunately acts like these are still possible even here," Prime Minister Juha Sipila said in a statement.</s>HELSINKI — Local officials in Finland say that three people have been fatally shot in a southeastern town overnight.

The South Karelia Social and Health Care District says on its that the shooting happened in the town of Imatra.

Imatra police on Sunday confirmed in a brief statement that a shooting incident had occurred in the town at about midnight Saturday but didn't mention victims and gave no other details.

Health officials said they had opened a crisis in the town.

No other details were immediately available. Police said they would provide more information later.</s>A Scottish woman who was knifed to death while working at a holiday resort in Finland has been named.

Rebecca Johnson from Burntisland was found dead by police at the weekend.

The keen dog-sledder had been working with the Santa Safari company providing Christmas-themed trips to Lapland.

Police have arrested Rebecca's 36-year-old boyfriend on suspicion of killing the Scot after police mounted a manhunt into the wilderness in difficult sub-zero conditions.

A relative of Rebecca in Burntisland last night spoke of the family's devastation.

Her great-aunt, Val Laing, told The Courier : "Rebecca was a beautiful girl.

“I had come home from Edinburgh when her grandad was on the phone to tell me what had happened. I couldn’t take it in at first.

“For her parents and grandparents to lose her just before Christmas is devastating.

“I’ll be there for them, but I don’t know how they are going to cope.”

Business owners in the Fife town who knew her also described Rebecca as a “princess”.

Friends have been taking to Facebook to speak of their shock at what's happened.

Ashley McFall said "I really hoped this wasn't true."

Santa Safari said yesterday : “We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the Santa Safari team was discovered dead on December 3.

“We are all in shock from this tragic news and our thoughts go out to her family.

“Our team is working closely with the Finnish Police and relevant authorities to support the investigation that is now underway.

“It goes without saying that we will do everything we can to support the family and our staff at this incredibly difficult time.”

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office also confirmed the young woman’s death.

A spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British national who died in Finland on 3 December.”

British workers typically stay in the region – which is 150 miles north of the Arctic Circle – in peak season from late November to January.

Just a few hours earlier that day a mayor and two female journalists were killed after being shot in the head by a man with a rifle in the southern Finnish town of Imatra.

The victims were outside a restaurant at midnight when they were shot in the head and torso by the man.

Mayor and two journalists shot dead outside restaurant by 'man with sniper rifle'

Police apprehended the shooter and the restaurant Vuoksenvahti, in South East Finland, has been cordoned off.

One of the victims has been named as mayor of Imatra Tiina Wilén-Jäppinen, who was "on a normal night out" with the other two women, local newspaper Ilta Sanomat reports.

Tiina, in her 50s and a mother-of-two, was said to be a "long-term influence" to the people of the town.

The alleged gunman was standing in front of a parked car outside of the restaurant when police arrived.

Police say they do not yet know the alleged shooter's motive for the crime but do not believe he knew the victims.

Health officials said they had opened a crisis center in the town.

Police are due to hold a press conference this afternoon.

Imatra has 28,000 inhabitants and is about 140 miles from Finland's capital, Helsinki.</s>The Southeastern Finland Police Department said it suspected a 23-year-old local man drove to the scene around midnight on Saturday, took a hunting rifle from the trunk of his car and fired four or five shots.

The suspect, who has criminal record of violent offences, was detained at the scene. The motive for the killings remained unclear.

"It looks like the victims were chosen at random," Detective Inspector Saku Tielinen told a news conference, adding that a political motive seemed unlikely.

Victim Tiina Wilen-Jappinen was chairwoman of Imatra City Council. The other two women were journalists from a local newspaper, the police said.

"She (Wilen-Jappinen) was liked, nice and bright person. This is truly shocking," Mayor Pertti Lintunen told the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat's online version.

The gun was a permitted hunting rifle but it did not belong to the suspect, police said.

Finland shares an 833-mile (1,340 km) border with Russia and has sought exceptions from proposed European Union restrictions on firearms, citing defense needs.

"Finland is one of the safest countries in the world, but unfortunately acts like these are still possible even here," Prime Minister Juha Sipila said in a statement.</s>A 23-year-old Finnish man is believed to have killed the three women with a hunting rifle in the town of Imatra, Southeastern Finland police Sgt. Heli Jämsén-Turkki said. The suspect has been arrested.

Two of the women were in their 30s and the third was in her 50s, according to police, who did not immediately identify the victims.

Jämsén-Turkki said there was no evidence of any political or religious motivation behind the attack, which happened around midnight on Saturday.

The sergeant added that given how quickly the shooting unfolded, the killer couldn't have recognized his victims, leading police to believe this was a random attack.
Three women, the Imatra Town Council chairwoman and two local reporters, are shot dead outside a restaurant in Imatra, Finland, a town east of the capital, Helsinki. A 23-year-old suspect is apprehended by police.