Police arrest Finnish party MP over nightclub shooting | Yle news

MP Timo Vornanen fired a shot into the ground outside a nightclub in Helsinki.

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Police said on Saturday they had arrested the Finnish party member Timo Vornanen following a nightclub shooting incident that took place in the early hours of Friday in central Helsinki.

Although police did not name Vornanen in their statement, the details they provided match Vornanen and are consistent with previously known details of the case.

According to police, the suspected shooting incident started around 4 a.m. on Friday at the Ihku nightclub in central Helsinki.

Vornanen and another group of people became involved in an altercation that culminated in Vornanen, once outside the club, pulling out a small caliber firearm and firing a shot into the ground.

Before firing the weapon, he pointed the barrel of the gun at those present.

Police say they have surveillance footage of the incident.

Vornanen, a first-term MP from Joensuu, worked as a police officer for more than two decades before being elected to the legislature.

The Chief of Police of Eastern Finland, Samppa Holopainentold Yle that he could not confirm whether Vornanen had returned his service weapon.

The Finns Party, meanwhile, used messaging service X on Saturday to announce that its chairman, Riikka Purra, canceled her scheduled performances for that day. No reason was given for the cancellation.

Purra has so far remained tight-lipped about the incident involving Vornanen, although she told would take ‘appropriate action’.

Yle could not reach Vornanen for comment.