Riksdag member Timo Vornanen is in custody after a shooting incident outside a nightclub in the Finnish capital, several Finnish media write. According to the newspaper Seiska, he is suspected of gross assault and weapons offences.
The police confirm the incident, but not who is involved – except that it is a 54-year-old man. However, information to several Finnish media, including Iltalehti and Seiska, indicates that the perpetrator is Vornanen.
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Got into a fight
He is in his first term as a member of the Riksdag, and represents the national conservative party Sannfinnenne.
According to the Finnish police, the incident must have started at the Ihku nightclub, where Vornanen is said to have ended up in a fight. About half an hour later, around four o’clock on Friday night, the parties met outside the nightclub. According to the newspaper Iltalehti, a group of less than ten people were involved.
Expressen writes that Vornanen is said to have taken out a gun and pointed it at several people, and then shot into the ground. After this, those involved left the scene.
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– Suddenly took out a weapon
The police have questioned several of those who were at the scene, and according to Iltalehti, their explanations are mind-boggling. There is a surveillance camera at the site which is said to have captured the incident.
– There was a small push involved in the argument that took place inside the nightclub, but the matter was settled there. Outside the nightclub, the 54-year-old man suddenly took out a small caliber weapon that he had with him. He pointed the race towards those present. After this, the man fired a shot into the ground, after which those present left, the police write in a press release on Saturday.
They state that the suspect man will be released as soon as the initial investigations are completed.
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Worked as a police officer
The weapon must have been legally acquired. Vornanen worked as a police officer before becoming a full-time politician, but the reason why he had the weapon with him in the city is unknown.
The Finnish newspaper IS has spoken to the director of administration in the Riksdag, Pertti Rauhio, who confirms that weapons have been stored in the Finnish Riksdag. It is unknown whether Vornanen was one of those who kept weapons there.
A party colleague of Vornanen confirms to IS that he was present during the incident, but describes his role as a “spectator”.
Riikka Purra, chairman of Sannfinnenne, has published a post on X about the incident, where she writes that the information that has emerged about the incident describes a very serious situation.
She writes that the party and the parliamentary group will handle the situation in an appropriate way.
