Hyvinkää shooter seeks conditional release

A man serving a life sentence for a 2012 mass shooting in Hyvinkää has filed a new application for conditional release, reports Yle.

Eero Hiltunen, 33, was convicted of two murders and seven attempted murders after opening fire from a rooftop in Hyvinkää’s town centre on 26 May 2012, killing two and wounding seven. He was 18 at the time.

Hiltunen submitted his latest application to the Helsinki Court of Appeal on 23 June, requesting an oral hearing and asking to be released on conditional parole as soon as possible. No hearing date has been set.

He has served approximately 14 years in prison. Finnish law allows life prisoners sentenced under the age of 21 to apply for conditional release after a minimum of ten years.

The Court of Appeal rejected a previous application last year, ruling that Hiltunen had not yet served a sufficient portion of his sentence.

In the 2012 attack, Hiltunen climbed onto the roof of a commercial building and fired indiscriminately at people on the street and in nearby restaurants. He later told the court he had become enraged after losing a wrestling match earlier that evening, and that his anger had expanded to target people in general.

In 2013, Hyvinkää District Court sentenced him to life imprisonment for two counts of murder, seven counts of attempted murder, and endangering 32 people. The court found he was fully aware of his actions at the time.