Helsinki (Somalia Today) – Finnish police will ask a court to remand a 71-year-old man suspected of five murders and aggravated arson after an apartment fire, which investigators say was deliberately set, killing five members of a Somali family.
The blaze tore through a residential building in the Pähkinärinne district of Vantaa, just north of Helsinki, early Tuesday.
Emergency services received the alarm at 5:41 am (0341 GMT) and quickly identified the fire as exceptionally intense.
Heavy smoke poured into the stairwell, cutting off escape routes for residents on the upper floors.
Five people — the parents, aged between 30 and 40, and their three children, aged three, six, and eight — died in the stairwell after inhaling toxic gases as they tried to get out.
A newborn baby from the same family survived and was found next to the victims. The infant was taken to the hospital and remains in serious condition.
‘No racist motive’
The suspect, a Finnish-born man in his 70s who lived on the same block, went directly to the police at the scene and reported himself.
He is expected to appear before a district court on Friday, when police will seek to keep him in custody.
Detective Chief Inspector Sanna Rentola, who is leading the investigation, said investigators are treating the case as five murders, two attempted murders, and aggravated arson.
“Police have now questioned the suspect once and will continue the questioning,” Rentola said in a statement.
Forensic findings so far support the view that someone set the fire intentionally.
The fire started in the suspect’s own second-floor flat before spreading through the six-storey building.
Authorities have so far ruled out a hate crime.
“There are no indications of a racist motive,” Rentola told reporters, adding that the Somali family was no more a target than any other resident in the building.
Violent history
However, the suspect has a documented history of violent offences.
Finnish daily Ilta-Sanomat reported that the man has a prior conviction for attempted manslaughter dating back to the early 2000s, when he stabbed his then-wife.
A court later convicted him in 2014 of assaulting the same woman after their divorce, striking her in the face.
Police have not confirmed details about the suspect’s past beyond what relates to the current case.
Four other residents were injured in the fire, and one remains in serious condition.
Authorities evacuated all residents of the block, and the blackened building remains sealed off.
The tragedy has shaken Vantaa and hit Finland’s Somali community hard.
Vantaa is Finland’s fourth-largest city and one of its most diverse municipalities, with nearly 29 percent of residents speaking a foreign mother tongue.
Somalis are one of the Nordic nation’s most established diaspora communities, with many arriving in the early 1990s after Somalia’s civil war.
Local authorities moved quickly to provide emergency accommodation and psychosocial support for residents displaced by the fire.
The city also organised discussion support at local schools and nurseries to help pupils, families, and staff cope with the loss.
The Hämeenkylä parish held a memorial service at a nearby church, while members of the Somali diaspora gathered at mosques in the area to mourn the dead.
Police said the pre-trial investigation remains at an early stage and may take several months.
“The number of titles and any other offences that arise will be reviewed and reassessed regularly as the investigation progresses,” Rentola said.
