Two people were shot dead and a third seriously injured in the early morning shooting.

 

The deceased were a boy in the seventh-grade and his mother. The injured party is the boy's stepfather, Kirkenes Primary School rector Tove Korsnes told iFinnmark.

 

“Students have been told that there has been a family tragedy. That a seventh grader here at the school and his mother are dead and that the stepfather is seriously injured,” Korsnes said. 

 

Morten Daae of the Finnmark Police District confirmed the rector's information. 

 

“We are trying to get an overview so that we can notify everyone who needs to be notified. We are cautious about what to announce because we want to make sure that all of the relatives have been notified,” he told NTB. 

 

Police received a report of a disturbance in an apartment in downtown Kirkenes at 4.13am. When officers arrived at the scene, they found three people who were shot and severely injured. One woman was later confirmed dead on the spot.

 

“Neighbours alerted us about noises that made us send officers to the location. When we entered the flat, we found three people severely injured,” Daae said..

 

The other two individuals were sent to hospital with serious injuries, and the seventh-grader was then confirmed dead. 

 

It was not immediately suspected that there were more people present in the apartment when the shooting took place. 

 

“We are not excluding anything this early in the investigation. We will also speak to witnesses and to try and map out what has happened,” Daae said. 

 

Crimes of this nature are rare in Norway. In 2015, police investigated just 20 murder cases with 21 victims. There have been 17 murder investigations thus far in 2016. 

 

Kirkenes is situated in the far northeastern part of Norway, some 400 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle.