A shot father fought for his life for over an hour in Taivalkoski before police and medics reached him, with authorities now explaining the delay.

A family man shot at a village hall in Taivalkoski, northern Finland, in March 2025 had to wait more than an hour for help, even though the first ambulance was nearby much earlier, Finnish public broadcaster Yle reports.

Shooting came as a surprise

The 85-year-old reindeer herder arrived at the Jokijärvi village hall with a shotgun wrapped in a garbage bag and shot a younger man, a timber buyer for a forestry company, in the lower back with birdshot. The shooting occurred just as a local association meeting was about to start. The victim, a father, did not die immediately.

Bystanders wrestled the gun from the shooter, who then drove away. They tried to stop the victim’s bleeding and called emergency services. The shooter also called the emergency centre, confessed, and said he had gone home.

Ambulance waited for police

First responders received the initial alarm at 9:49 a.m., according to Juha Paloneva, head of emergency medical services at Oulu University Hospital. An ambulance left one minute later, a doctor-staffed helicopter two minutes later.

The ambulance arrived near the scene 22 minutes after the alarm, but did not proceed to the village hall because police had not yet cleared it as safe. “Emergency services only enter such a scene once police have declared it safe and given permission,” Paloneva said in an email to Yle. The crew finally reached the patient 61 minutes after the first alarm.

Police Superintendent Jyrki Kivirinta of Oulu Police Department disputed that medics were ordered to stay away. “They were not told to wait, but it was stated that police can secure the work once a patrol is on site,” he said. Kivirinta stressed that at the time there was no reliable information on whether the scene was safe or whether the gunman might return, even though he had said he was at home.

Police arrived after one hour

Police received their alert at 9:56 a.m., triggered by the shooter’s own emergency call. Patrols were dispatched from Kuusamo and Pudasjärvi. The Pudasjärvi unit arrived first and then advanced with paramedics. “Police were on site 62 minutes after the alarm,” Kivirinta said.

Although the exact timestamps from emergency services and police do not fully match, Kivirinta said the overall timeline is consistent. The victim and bystanders waited just over an hour from the first emergency call.

Pasi Kivimäki, chairman of the Jokijärvi fishing association who was at the scene, recalled the frustration of waiting. “We were already outside and waiting, wondering if help was ever going to come. Then the police arrived with submachine guns drawn.” He said the wait felt much longer than it was.

Earlier this month, a court ruled the elderly man was not criminally responsible due to mental incapacity and convicted him of manslaughter.