The prosecutor's office in Hämeenlinna has indicated that it will not launch an investigation into the use of a police firearm during an incident at an apartment building in the city in September.
Police were responding to a call in the Kettumäki area at about 11.30pm on a Friday night at the end of last month when one officer was shot in the courtyard of the building. In response, the Häme police department said at the time that "police used a service weapon to stop a dangerous person".
Regional prosecutor Juha-Mikko Hämäläinen, who is leading the probe, said in a press release that according to the emergency centre's incident report, the officers were not aware in advance that the call could involve a particularly significant threat of violence.
When officers arrived at the scene they found five people gathered in the courtyard of the building. The situation seemed calm until one suspect pulled a gun from his pocket and shot at the police from a distance of about one metre, the bullet grazing the forehead of one of the officers.
Police then returned fire, shooting a total of six bullets, two of which hit the suspect.
The injured officer was taken to hospital, but released soon after.
The regional prosecutor was informed of the incident, as is required whenever a police service weapon is used in the line of duty.
The prosecutor said that the officers had been subjected to an unlawful attack and as the gun was still in the possession of the suspect, the situation posed an immediate and serious danger to the life and health of the people present. Given the sudden escalation of the situation, the prosecutor added, there was no time for the officers to react by any other means.
Therefore, the prosecutor ruled, there is no reason to suspect either police officer present of having committed any crime.