Finland: Nine Killed in School Shooting

by kipin | November 8, 2007 at 08:47 am | 17125 views | 20 comments

Update 8/11/2007: Thursday has been a day of mourning for the nation. Flags have been flowing at half-mast and memorial services are being held. (Read more.)

Police has given new details about shooting incident and says that the shooter acted alone and picked his victims at random (read). Advance information about massacre that was available in Internet has been discussed and similarities between this case and former massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine have been pointed out (read).

Discussions about the lacking resources of mental health care and about gun rates in Finland have already been started.

Update: Amount of deaths has risen to nine when the shooter died at the hospital this evening.

Update: Yle News reports that at least eight people have been killed in the school shooting (a female principal, five male and two female students). The shooter, 18-year-old male student is in critical condition after having shot himself in the head.

Writings and videos made by the shooter forecasting blood bath have been found on several web sites. Some of the sites (for example the original YouTube video) have been closed down. Read more.

See also what newspaper Helsingin Sanomat writes about the tragedy. Video- and photomaterial can be found here.

At least one person has been killed in a school shooting in Tuusula, about 60 kilometres from Helsinki. According to the Töölö Hospital in Helsinki, the victim is a middle-age woman. Four others have been wounded.

Eyewitnesses report the shooter has been taken into custody. Police have not yet verified the information.

Students have been evacuated to a church in the area. Police and ambulances are at the scene.

Police say the shooter is an 18-year old high school male.

Video Posted on YouTube

A video named "Jokela High School Massacre -11/7/2007" was posted Tuesday on the video-sharing site YouTube. The video contains outdoor pictures of the school. A man with a gun is also seen in the footage.

The video can be viewed here.

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Rob Walker

at 09:12 on November 7th, 2007

If it was posted yesterday with the name '11/7/2007' something isn't right, as yesterday was the 6th, not the 7th. Time zone difference? Mistake in naming the file, or is it something else?

jordan

at 09:28 on November 7th, 2007

good stuff:

kipin, thanks for posting this- let us know if you find any more local coverage. The video that appeared on Youtube has prompted a video response, in which the poster identifies the shooter as Pekka-Eric Auvinen.

Rob Walker

at 10:02 on November 7th, 2007

good stuff:

It's a shame this sort of thing continues to happen around the world.

Brian A Kennedy

at 11:09 on November 7th, 2007

good stuff:

kipin, thanks for this. What a tragedy.

Brian A Kennedy

at 11:39 on November 7th, 2007

Reuters is now reporting at least seven dead.

Rob Walker

at 12:06 on November 7th, 2007

BREAKING:

kipin, thanks for getting this story out so quickly. It will now show up on the home page for four hours. If new developments justify it, I'll renew this flag for another cycle.

Some links to finnish sites that have lots of photo and videos (text is in finnish):

http://www.yle.fi/uutiset/kotimaa/oikea/id74359.html

http://www.hs.fi/kaupunki/artikkeli/Omaiset+Ammuskelija+saatu+kiinni/1135231611687

http://www.dn.se/

http://www.hbl.fi/

http://www.iltasanomat.fi/

women2

at 15:34 on November 7th, 2007

another useful link:

http://www.heetmail.nl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=1

ryan

at 12:11 on November 7th, 2007

news wanted:

I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others in relevant locations to look for more evidence.

kipin

at 13:07 on November 7th, 2007

Thanks everyone. I'm trying to update the story but can't manage doing it due to the technical problems. Hoping them to be solved soon and being able to cover some news. Yle News reports that the death toll has risen to eight now. What a tragedy.

jordan

at 13:23 on November 7th, 2007

The bug has been fixed- you should be able to edit as normal. Just let me know directly if you have any more problems.

Rob Walker

at 14:09 on November 7th, 2007

The original video has been taken off youtube, it's up on deletedtube.

http://www.deletedyoutube.ftvteen.com/?v=FErcNl3Tjh0

ryan

at 16:10 on November 7th, 2007

we also have one on the site here

jordan

at 15:56 on November 7th, 2007

Thanks for keeping this updated, kipin. Thanks, also, to women2 for adding the latest video.

women2

at 16:22 on November 7th, 2007

glad to be of help :)

The most recent mirror of his YouTube profile is here:

http://retecool.com/uploads/mirrordir/Sturmgeist89.htm

still trying to capture the cashed videos ...

women2

at 16:24 on November 7th, 2007

hi :)

another cached profile:

http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:5BzHtBzFEVgJ:uk.youtube.com/user/Sturmgeist89+sturmgeist89&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk

Rob Walker

at 16:45 on November 7th, 2007

Great, thanks a lot for your updates women2.

Brian A Kennedy

at 16:33 on November 7th, 2007

Thanks for this, women2.

hayao

at 00:23 on November 8th, 2007

This news is worth following. Some observers believe that some copycat anti-society would follow suit. It is not very safe nowadays, even in a country with a very slow and low crime rate. How much more in countries like the U.S. would we be any safer?

kipin

at 04:39 on November 8th, 2007

Thanks everyone for links, videos, pictures and comments.

Sadness and confusion prevail in Finland today, but also the discussion about the backgrounds (considering values of society, mental health care issue and high gun rates, for example) of this tragedy has started.

comoms

at 15:10 on November 8th, 2007

Suicide note found - Police in Finland have found a suicide note written
by an 18-year-old student shortly before he went on a gun rampage at
his school and killed eight people.

Pekka-Eric Auvinen said goodbye to his family and explained his hatred towards society, the police said.

Auvinen gave a warning of the shooting in a video posted on the internet.

Wreaths and candles have been placed around the grounds
of the school in Tuusula, north of Helsinki, and a national day of
mourning has been held.

Local education officials have also set up a crisis centre in a nearby church to help those affected by the tragedy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7085329.stm

'Random killings'

Investigators said Auvinen appeared bent on causing
maximum bloodshed when he opened fire with a pistol at Jokela High
School on Wednesday morning, killing the headmistress, a nurse and six
fellow pupils.

"Auvinen had 500 cartridges on him. Thus far 69
cartridge cases were found in the school building," a police spokesman
said, adding that all of the dead had been shot several times.