Oulu police said Friday that they were searching for a man believed to be carrying a firearm in the vicinity of two schools in the Raksila district of Oulu.
Officers said they were notified of a suspicious man near the campus of the Oulu University of Applied Sciences on Teuvo Pakkalankatu soon after 12 noon on Friday. The Teuvo Pakkala primary school is also located on the same street.
Police chief Arto Autio said the area had been cordoned off, but the suspect has not been found yet.
"The suspect had said that he had a gun in his rucksack," Autio remarked.
At 12:30 pm roughly 120 students of the primary school were told to remain in their classrooms and to follow orders from the police. About an hour later, students were informed that they would be collected by the police and escorted downstairs.
Later in the afternoon, students were allowed to leave the school compounds. Police said that they are continuing the search and called for the public to avoid Teuvo Pakkalankatu and its environs.
Oulu police said on Twitter that the unit was not aware of any threat posed by the individual. It added that the operation had been a precautionary measure.
Edit: Updated at 4.25pm to indicate that students had been released from the schools and that police were still searching for the suspect.