Finland police open fire to stop man who killed one and injured others with sword in shopping centre

A man with a sword-like weapon and a firearm killed one person and wounded at least nine others today at a shopping centre in central Finland, police said.

The attacker was also wounded and taken into custody.

Police said they were forced to use a gun to stop the violence at the Herman shopping center, which was evacuated in the town of Kuopio. But police didn't confirm that they shot the suspect, who is a Finnish national.

One police officer was slightly injured, and the conditions of the other wounded, including the attacker, weren't immediately available and police haven't provided a possible motive or given any further details.

Prime Minister Antti Rinne tweeted that the violence was "shocking and totally condemnable."

The shopping centre, which is a few kilometres outside the center of Kuopio, houses the Savo Vocational College, where the attacker allegedly entered with some sort of sword, according to Finnish media.

The Finnish newspaper Iltalehti cited a witness saying the man was a student at the college.

He had entered a class with a bag and took out some kind of sword and hit the teacher with it, Iltalehti reported.

A panic broke out among the students and some of them started to throw chairs at the attacker who fled the scene, it said.

Finnish media cited witnesses who reported hearing a brief volley of shots being fired after police arrived.