Man killed 9 in Finnish school

[The One.]

At least nine people have been killed and two others wounded in a shooting spree at a college in the town of Kauhajoki in western Finland.

Police said the gunman, thought to be a student in his early 20s, then shot himself. His condition is unclear.

The gunman apparently posted a video of himself on the internet last week firing a gun.

As a result of this, police interviewed him on Monday but did not revoke his licence, the interior minister said.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said this was a "tragic day" for Finland.
Ski mask


Tuesday's shootings in Kauhajoki, some 330km (205 miles) north of the capital, Helsinki, began just before 1100 local time (0800 GMT).



An estimated 200 students were thought to be in the college buildings at the time.

A BBC correspondent in Finland said a gunman dressed in black was seen at the school, apparently carrying an automatic weapon.

A man with a ski mask was seen entering the building with a large bag, national broadcaster YLE reported. Shots were fired soon afterwards, and reports emerged that several people were seriously wounded.

School caretaker Jukka Forsberg told Finnish TV: "Within a short space of time I heard several dozen rounds of shots, in other words it was an automatic pistol.
"I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning and one managed to escape out of the back door."

Police ordered an evacuation and called for reinforcements as fires blazed in the building.

The gunman remained at large within the college grounds for some time.

Mr Vanhanen confirmed the gunman had shot himself but gave no details of his condition.

Media reports said the gunman was being treated for a bullet wound to the head at Tampere University Hospital.

Mr Vanhanen expressed condolences to the families of the victims and declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.

Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said police questioned the man about the YouTube video, which showed him shooting at a firing range.

"Police were aware of this and spoke to him on Monday, September 22," she said.
"However, the police officer on duty decided there was no need to terminate his gun licence."

The gunman was given a "temporary licence" for a .22-calibre firearm this year, Ms Holmlund said.

In November 2007, eight people died in another school attack in Finland.

In that incident, the gunman, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, posted a video on YouTube as a preview of his attack, pledging to "eliminate" those he saw as "unfit".

In the wake of that attack, Finland's government pledged to raise the minimum age for buying guns.
But the country has a long tradition of hunting and weapons-bearing, with about 1.6 million firearms in private hands

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7630969.stm


I can not believe this is happening again . :mello:
Like said in the text almost the excact same happened last November. This is second school shooting in a year! And the man had spoke to police yesterday! How on earth they didn't notice anything :no: He also set the school building on fire, just like Auvinen tried to do last year, too.

This is terrible.. I think this will be one of those days I'll never forget, just like 7th Nov 2007... :no:
Somehow I feel now even more shocked than last year, don't know why..

I don't know what to say.

 

[Muchos]

Omg I was going to say that your'e a 1 year late with the news but realised this happened again!!! I can't belive this, Finlad and norway is neighbours and I can't belive that this sick trend is moving over here.

Poor people. My condolences goes out to the families.

 

[The One.]

^^ It's horrible I always thought that Finland and other Skandinavian countries are safe... Of course they still are but.. *sigh*

I hope this doen't become something tha twe get used to, that soon we'll realize there's school shootings every year or so.

The man is dead now, btw. He died to the injuries in his head after shooting himself.
That's something that's wrong too IMO. He should have stayed alive and see what he did! Explain why.

 

[Muchos]

^^ It's horrible I always thought that Finland and other Skandinavian countries are safe... Of course they still are but.. *sigh*

I hope this doen't become something tha twe get used to, that soon we'll realize there's school shootings every year or so.

The man is dead now, btw. He died to the injuries in his head after shooting himself.
That's something that's wrong too IMO. He should have stayed alive and see what he did! Explain why.

agree. It's a sad thing, but people like theese often have issues and ALOT of frustration inside that they think the society is responsible of. Of course many things society, is indeed responsible of, but you can't take your anger out on innoceent people. ¨

Personally I have alot of frustration inside me and anger toward the society and the whole system but I would never do such a thing. It's a cowards path to follow.

I would say that there is definetly a connection between the shootings in the U.S ->youtube -> Finlad, by that, I mean what has " Inspired" them.

I know it's a terroble thing and all, but unfortunetly now that there's already have been 2 shootings like this in Scandinavia, I think there will be more.

 

[Kinga]

OMG! Hanna! I've read about this in today's news... It's terrible... I don't really know what to say. Maybe because you cannot say a word when you hear such news.

I'm very sorry for the people who died in this awful shooting and of course for their families... :sad:

 

[Mechi]

First of all I'm praying for the victims and their families! This is so incredible tragic!

Then again I need to say some more...
In a way I'm the opinion this shouldn't be news and in a way I think it can't be discussed enough.
I don't want ppl like this gunman again thinking they can get attention or even some sick kind of fame this way... that's one of many dangerous factors in this for sure.

In another way I think it's really society who should notice earlier.
I don't blame the police guy who has interviewed the attacker from today only yesterday... he can only look on to the face of the young guy... and probably the police man will never be happy again now. Also I don't know the law in Finnland if he had had even any possibilities already as that young guy probably had simply not broken nor hurt any law before.

I do think often there are ppl who should notice a change even when going on slowly... family? friends? young ppl going to school with him? teacher?... somewhere somehow sometime... ppl stoped to care it seems again and again.

We all do tolerate violence too much.

See I'm working with psychological ill patients... and there are sometimes 'signs' coming up...so I do notice... but laws in my country do protect psychological ill ppl especially, what's in its origin not wrong for sure, but as a matter of fact I can in a way only get active sometimes when something or someone was already hurt and that is too late, simply too late.
I discuss this often with workmates... first there has to happen something, only then you can protect ppl officially (although it means to me also protection for the might actively involved psychological ill person, don't get me wrong).

What I'm trying to say is that I think all these youngsters having and putting violent videos online or wherever do need some serious help (of whatever kind) but as a matter of fact noone can/want to pay that. So they first have to do something wrong before they can enter a programme or a serious therapy... and sometimes that's simply too late.

Safety is an illusion always anyways. There's no such thing existing to be honest.

 

[MarriedtoMichaelinmyheart]

nooooooooo

it makes me wanna shout, throw my hand up and shout
whats this madness all about

 

[The One.]

First of all I'm praying for the victims and their families! This is so incredible tragic!

Then again I need to say some more...
In a way I'm the opinion this shouldn't be news and in a way I think it can't be discussed enough.
I don't want ppl like this gunman again thinking they can get attention or even some sick kind of fame this way... that's one of many dangerous factors in this for sure.

In another way I think it's really society who should notice earlier.
I don't blame the police guy who has interviewed the attacker from today only yesterday... he can only look on to the face of the young guy... and probably the police man will never be happy again now. Also I don't know the law in Finnland if he had had even any possibilities already as that young guy probably had simply not broken nor hurt any law before.

I do think often there are ppl who should notice a change even when going on slowly... family? friends? young ppl going to school with him? teacher?... somewhere somehow sometime... ppl stoped to care it seems again and again.

We all do tolerate violence too much.

See I'm working with psychological ill patients... and there are sometimes 'signs' coming up...so I do notice... but laws in my country do protect psychological ill ppl especially, what's in its origin not wrong for sure, but as a matter of fact I can in a way only get active sometimes when something or someone was already hurt and that is too late, simply too late.
I discuss this often with workmates... first there has to happen something, only then you can protect ppl officially (although it means to me also protection for the might actively involved psychological ill person, don't get me wrong).

What I'm trying to say is that I think all these youngsters having and putting violent videos online or wherever do need some serious help (of whatever kind) but as a matter of fact noone can/want to pay that. So they first have to do something wrong before they can enter a programme or a serious therapy... and sometimes that's simply too late.

Safety is an illusion always anyways. There's no such thing existing to be honest.

I totally agree with you on what you said about these having so much attention.
One guy said on the radio that nowadays it's not cool just to kill yourself but to kill others too, and leave this world with as much attention as possible. I think that's terrible and that's why these kind of tragedies shouldn't have so much attention, that's my opinion.

Also what scares me is that even that police who interviewed him the day before didn't notice anything wrong with him. He could hide it so well and I don't blame the policeman either, he's just a human too. But anyways all these shooting videos in youtube.. they were excatly the same than last year! Why didn't his friends, teachers, relatives, anyone notice anything??
People really have to start taking these things seariously.

 

[The One.]

It's possible that Saari (shooter yesterday) and Auvinen (shooter last November) knew each other.
The yhad bought their guns from the same shop in Jokela.

:mellow:

Total number of victims is 11, including the shooter himself. 9 of them were his classmates, 8 female and 1 male, and 1 teacher.

 

[Kinga]

It's possible that Saari (shooter yesterday) and Auvinen (shooter last November) knew each other.
The yhad bought their guns from the same shop in Jokela.

:mellow:

Really???? OMG!!!! It's so horrible...

 

[mysterygirl7]

It's so horrible! R.I.P

 

[FinalEyes]

I honestly think people need to wake up and stop bullying and abusing others. I can guarantee you that (even though they haven't reported a motive yet) he was picked on, and that he lashed out at others because of the abuse. It's just another Columbine or V-Tech shooting, with a mentally disturbed killer who was given freedom to access a gun.

Maybe, if somebody had paid attention and had reported this guy to either the authorities or a trained psychiatrist, this tragedy wouldn't have happened. It's sadly a reflection on how our society operates when this occurs: turn a blind eye to troubled people, and ignore them and maybe they'll go away. Or maybe they'll blow up in our faces like this guy did.

 

[The One.]

^ Yep, he was bullied in school and in army.. like was Auvinen who did the same last year.

 

[friend]

this is very sad. this kind of thing happens far too often everywhere. not going into my political beliefs, just praying for a time when these kind of things cease. RIP.