Mourners gather outside a Finnish school where a 12-year-old is suspected of firing at classmates

By JARI TANNER
Associated Press

HELSINKI (AP) — Mourners gathered outside a southern Finland school a day after a 12-year-old student was accused of fatally shooting a boy and seriously wounding two girls all he same age with a handgun. The suspect, a sixth grader who attended the school, was apprehended less than an hour later. The attack shocked the Nordic nation, where Finnish blue-and-white flags were hoisted at half-staff and scores of people including parents, teachers and fellow students laid flowers and lit candles in the snowy landscape near the school building where the shooting occurred. The Finnish government declared Wednesday a nationwide day of mourning, ordering all state agencies and institutions to lower the national flag to half-staff. Many private households across Finland joined in the commemoration.