Tuesday 23 September 2008
By AFP (text) / Sarah Drury and Pierre-Ludovic Viollat (video)Watch the killer's YouTube video in The Observers.
A young trainee chef went on a shooting rampage at a Finnish vocational school on Tuesday, mowing down at least 10 people before turning a weapon fatally on himself, police said.
Witnesses at the school in Kauhajoki in southwestern Finland described scenes of panic as the man, thought to be in his early 20s, prowled the corridors letting off round after round at helpless students.
"I heard the sound of shooting and hysterical girls' voices. Then two girls came towards my room and said a weird man was shooting," Jukka Forsberg, the janitor of the school, told AFP.
"I went to see and saw a guy leaving a big black bag in the corridor and going into classroom number three and closing the door.
"I looked through the window and he immediately shot at me. Then I called the emergency number," he said, adding, "Thank God I was not hit! He fired at me but I was running zigzag. I ran for my life."
Forsberg said he heard "horrible screams of pain" as he raced out of the building.
The shooter -- identified by police as a second-year culinary arts student Matti Juhani Saari -- was clad in black clothes and a ski mask as he stalked the school looking for victims.
After his shooting spree, the attacker turned a gun on himself and was taken to a local hospital with head injuries. He later died of those wounds, police told AFP.
"Now the number of dead is 10 and the shooter has died. That means 11 people have died," police chief Urpo Lintala told AFP.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen held a crisis meeting of the Finnish government following the shooting.
Police believe all the dead were students at the school, the STT news agency reported.
Threats had been issued on Tuesday against the regional chain of schools to which the Kauhajoki institute belonged, prompting officials to evacuate more than 2,750 students from the 12 schools.
Finnish Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said meanwhile that police had questioned the suspected shooter the day before the attack after he posted a video of himself at a shooting range on the Internet, but they had not deemed him enough of a threat to withdraw his gun license.
The shooting started at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) and lasted for about an hour and a half, Paananen said.
Hours after the massacre, police wearing bullet-proof vests continued to patrol the grounds around the school.
The school had been set on fire in several locations around the building, a fire brigade duty officer said, and while the flames had been brought under control thick smoke was still complicating the police search of the premises, STT reported.
The gunman may also have been carrying explosives on him, according to the YLE public broadcaster.
The interior minister said Tuesday's suspect had posted a video of himself at a shooting range on the Internet.
"The person suspected of being the shooter had posted a video on the Internet last Friday where he was shooting at a shooting range," she said.
"Police were aware of this and spoke to him on Monday, September 22 ... However the police officer on duty decided there was no need to terminate his gun license," she said, adding that he held a "temporary license for a .22-caliber gun he obtained in 2008."
The video clip showed a young man pointing a gun at the camera and saying "You will die next," before firing four shots.
Tuesday's shooting came less than a year after a massacre at a Finnish high school in Jokela, north of Helsinki.
On November 7, 2007, 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot five boys aged between 16 and 18, the 61-year-old headmistress, a 42-year-old female nurse and a 25-year-old single mother who was also a student.
He then turned his gun on himself.
Before he went on his deadly rampage, Auvinen had posted a video entitled "Jokela High School Massacre -- 11/7/2007" on file-sharing website YouTube.
Following the Jokela massacre, numerous schools across Finland were evacuated following similar threats.
Finland's cabinet also moved to toughen the country's gun laws.
Finland has one of the world's highest gun ownership rates, ranking third behind the United States and Yemen, according to a study last year by the Small Arms Survey of the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
26/09/2008 04:36:10 Alert a moderator
Finnes face tough questions after the kiling spree
By Oumar Kane - Nouakchott, Mauritania
First of all let's pray for both the victimes and theis familes members. What happend is for me a kind of warning for all the countries mostly for those who allowe the free gun holding such as the USA. in addition what happened could be avoided because the murderer posted a short film of his own saying" YOU WILL DIE NEXT" so was clear that he planed to do something wrong thus he should not be released .As the saying goes in my country" it is very dificult to fight back a hidden enemy but very easy to netrelise the one who shows himself" so once again he should not be released. As a final word I will say that such thing is becoming a kind of fashion in schools so let take the bull by its hons before it become too late.
24/09/2008 22:34:52 Alert a moderator
so now what?
By Maki - California, USA
This should be a wakeup call to all of us.When will we be aware that one of the most powerful ways to stop these kind of incidents is to acknowledge that we have moved far far away from God and His teachings? We allow all sorts of abnormalities to be recognized as normal as long as they don't hurt anyone. Violence shown in any form whether it is staged in a movie or shown in these videos by thuis media reinforces the killer's mindset-to go out with a lot of attention. You devote more time to the act itself instead of questioning why we continue to allow immorality and criminal behavior. I am not talking about a conservative religious puritanical stance or fanaticism, but simply living by the Ten Commandments. What is the purpose of a gun if it is not to kill something?someone? Can one teach respect for firearms? More importantly, our schools, our parents, -society- needs to teach and reinforce that "Life is a Gift from God and is Precious!". We need to abandon all the bells and whisltes of electronics, gas-guzzling vehicles, etc. and get back to WALKING, TALKING with your fellow man. Too many people are unhappy and it is because of this fast tempo and no time to socialize normally. We distance ourselves from our families, because we spend more time in our vehicles than we do with our families at dinner. This tragedy is because we do not COMMUNICATE anymore with each other- no time. My heart goes out to the victims and their families as well as this killer and his.
24/09/2008 19:59:01 Alert a moderator
More control of guns needed.
By Anonyme -
If you live by the gun you will die by the gun!
24/09/2008 16:39:34 Alert a moderator
Finland killins
By Bertrand - France
If banning guns is not the solution,then,what is (apart from banning half-wits) ?
23/09/2008 00:39:38 Alert a moderator
banning guns is not the solution.
By Jeff - Texas
Although banning personal ownership of guns is tempting in situations like this, you have to remember that if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns.
I can run 10 people over in the street at a jazz festival, does that mean you are going to ban cars?
Gun ownership is essential in a free society; nothing can be done about a tyrannical government if law abiding citizens do not have guns.
In the UK, gun related crime rates went UP after gun ban laws were enacted. That alone proves my point.
23/09/2008 18:33:50 Alert a moderator
video of suspect
By Anonyme joseph walker - sherborne dorset uk
I am not sick in the head watching a video of this person ,when so many innocent lives are lost.it just proves a point of the disturbed people around.
23/09/2008 18:30:32 Alert a moderator
Finland
By Anonyme joseph walker - sherborne dorset uk
Typical goverment incompetence and pathetic apologies ,there are plenty of woods around here people want to shoot.the americans have the same ignorance .there are also a lot of disturbed people on this planet.if people want to shoot join the army .otherwise any intelligent people or goverment will have them removed from society.Austrilian ,govt seems the only intelligent country on guns ,it took they parliment two weeks to pass laws removing guns from public ownership.
23/09/2008 13:41:46 Alert a moderator
school shooting
By Anonyme - spain
its a pity