8 dead in Finland school shooting
TUUSULA, Finland - An 18-year-old gunman killed eight people at a high school in southern Finland on Wednesday, then shot himself but survived, police said.
They said the high school's principal was among the dead.
Police said the gunman, who used a .22-caliber pistol, was taken to hospital with serious wounds and the situation was "under control" after officers surrounded Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki.
It was the first known school shooting in Finland, where gun ownership is fairly common by European standards, but shootings are rare.
Medical response leader Eero Hirvensalo told The Associated Press that one person had been "severely injured" while 10 people had minor injuries.
Finnish media reports said the shooter had revealed his plans on the video Web site YouTube.
A posting titled "Jokela High School Massacre" showed a picture of a building by a lake that appears to be the school, along with two photos of a young man holding a handgun. The person who posted the video was identified in the user profile as an 18-year-old man from Finland. The posting was later removed.
The profile contained a text calling for a "revolution against the system."
Police could not immediately be reached to comment on the video.
Kim Kiuru, a teacher at the school, said the principal had announced over the public address system just before noon that all students should remain in their classrooms.
"I stayed in the corridor to listen to more instructions, having locked my classroom door," Kiuru told the YLE radio station. "After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun in his hand through the doors toward me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction."
Kiuru said he saw a woman's body as he fled the building.
"Then my pupils shouted at me out of the windows to ask what they should do and I told them to jump out of the windows ... and all my pupils were saved," Kiuru said.
More than 400 students, from 12 to 18, were enrolled at Jokela, a local official said.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen described the situation as "extremely tragic" and said the government would hold an emergency meeting.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071107/ap_on_re_eu/finland_school_shooting
They said the high school's principal was among the dead.
Police said the gunman, who used a .22-caliber pistol, was taken to hospital with serious wounds and the situation was "under control" after officers surrounded Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki.
It was the first known school shooting in Finland, where gun ownership is fairly common by European standards, but shootings are rare.
Medical response leader Eero Hirvensalo told The Associated Press that one person had been "severely injured" while 10 people had minor injuries.
Finnish media reports said the shooter had revealed his plans on the video Web site YouTube.
A posting titled "Jokela High School Massacre" showed a picture of a building by a lake that appears to be the school, along with two photos of a young man holding a handgun. The person who posted the video was identified in the user profile as an 18-year-old man from Finland. The posting was later removed.
The profile contained a text calling for a "revolution against the system."
Police could not immediately be reached to comment on the video.
Kim Kiuru, a teacher at the school, said the principal had announced over the public address system just before noon that all students should remain in their classrooms.
"I stayed in the corridor to listen to more instructions, having locked my classroom door," Kiuru told the YLE radio station. "After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-caliber handgun in his hand through the doors toward me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction."
Kiuru said he saw a woman's body as he fled the building.
"Then my pupils shouted at me out of the windows to ask what they should do and I told them to jump out of the windows ... and all my pupils were saved," Kiuru said.
More than 400 students, from 12 to 18, were enrolled at Jokela, a local official said.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen described the situation as "extremely tragic" and said the government would hold an emergency meeting.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071107/ap_on_re_eu/finland_school_shooting
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clearly America's lax gun control laws are to blame.
Ben0 -
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=369_1194449557
evidently this is a video done by the shooter. I can't watch it on the dail up. Somebody give me a report.0 -
AG - nothing exciting in the video, just stills of the school and some dude pointing a pistol at the camera with some stupid soundtrack. 0 -
Bush did it ! 0 -
I wonder what the U.N. is going to say. 0 -
Face it... You are going to have a "bad-egg" once in a wile ,i don't care where you're at.... 0 -
if it was a hand gun and i was in a locked classroom i would not jump from a window. i do not know what the walls are made of but i can assume that they are most likely reinforced concrete blocks or solid. i dont see how any small bore could penetrate that. maybe a 45 or bigger[?] 0 -
And an other one today
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/09/23/finland.school.shooting/index.html
Here he is
http://mickocastren.1g.fi/muut/kauhajoki/
5.3 million people live in Finland, this was a second one within a year, something f'ed up in Finland. Good thing, most places in this country you can carry a gun to defend yourself, in Finalnd you can not.0 -
quote:Originally posted by BT3
Bush did it !
+10 -
I don't get it.
Many "ballistics experts" on this forum talk about how it is almost impossible to kill with a .22 pistol.0 -
In Finland people as young as 15 could buy firearms--after this shooting their gov't has said they will now raise the age to 18[:(] 0
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