The partner of Finland’s first openly gay professional hockey player, Janne Puhakka, has confessed to killing the 29-year-old.

According to reports, 66-year-old Rolf Nordmo told police that he shot and killed the 29-year-old athlete with a shotgun just weeks after they broke off their relationship.

According to Finnish media reports, the crime occurred when Puhakka returned to the apartment where they lived – as he had moved out after the break-up – to discuss practical matters with his 66-year-old former partner. That’s when, according to police officers, Nordmo grabbed the shotgun and fired.

Nordmo was initially arrested for manslaughter, but the charge was later upgraded to murder because “the act is suspected to have been committed with premeditation and in a particularly brutal and cruel manner,” according to a police statement.

According to the same statement, “the motive for the crime was to end the relationship between the victim and the suspect,” though the reason for the couple’s separation has not been made public.

The pair’s relationship began in 2014 when Poohakka was 19 years old and made headlines in 2018 when the hockey athlete came out.

At the time, he had revealed that he had initially lied about having the older man next to him, saying Nordmo was his uncle, to avoid questions about their relationship.

“I had to keep him a secret – and it’s not a nice thing to hide the person you love,” Puhakka said at the time.

After their relationship went public, the couple had admitted that some people often mistook them for father and son – though they never cared about the age difference between them.