Police in Helsinki have detained a 15-year-old male suspected of trying to kill a 17-year-old over the weekend.
The incident took place on Sunday morning in the city's eastern district of Myllypuro, according to police.
A 17-year-old male was stabbed twice in the back with a knife and received life-threatening injuries for which he received hospital treatment.
Police said the case is being investigated as attempted murder.
Officers were called to an apartment in Myllypuro at around 9 am on Sunday due to a complaint about a fight.
Unknown motive
The victim told the officers that the perpetrators of the assault included three to five unknown men that he had encountered outside, according to police.
According to early investigation, police suspect that the victim was stabbed in an apartment which the 15-year-old was visiting. The suspect was detained by officers later on in another flat, chief inspector Jari Koski told Yle.
"A motive is still completely unclear. We do not know exactly what led to the stabbing," Koski said, adding that neither the victim nor the suspect have suggested a motive or explanation behind the incident.
"The investigation is still in pretty early stages, but in any case we do know that they were friends," he said, adding that a probe into the incident will continue.
Police also suspect that there were people in the apartment other than the suspect and victim at the time of the stabbing.
Mixed-substance abuse up
Koski noted that the problem of mixed-substance abuse has become increasingly common in the city in recent times but pointed out that he could not say whether Sunday's incident was linked to such activity.
"Cases like these are characterised by the mixing of alcohol and other drugs, and [people] get so out of it that they don't know what's happening. When both the victim and perpetrator survive [things like this] they're left wondering how it all really played out," Koski said.
"There are usually no clear reasons behind such incidents, like a quarrel over money or something like that. There are cases where motives are clear but quite often the causes are unclear," Koski explained.
APN on perceived uptick in youth violence
In November, Yle News' podcast All Points North covered the apparent increase in youth violence following a Helsingin Sanomat story that suggested there are large numbers of young people in Helsinki engaged in petty crime, robbery and occasionally violence, and some of them were immigrants or from immigrant families.
However, subsequent reports suggested that there had been no increase in violent crime among young people.
APN asked Yle Duty Editor Ville Seuri why this topic attracts so many headlines.
You can listen to the full podcast via the embedded player here or viaYle Areena,Spotify,Apple Podcasts or your usual podcast player using theRSS feed.
