Teen shoots, kills 8 in rampage at Finnish school, then kills self
Pupils are evacuated from Jokela High School in Tuusula, Finland, on Wednesday after a teenager opened fire at his school, killing eight – seven students and the principal – before taking his own life. The Associated Press, Seppo Samuli
November 8, 2007
TUUSULA, Finland – An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing seven other students and the principal before mortally wounding himself in a rampage that stunned a nation where gun crime is rare.
Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.
Investigators said the gunman, who was not identified, shot himself in the head after the shooting spree at Jokela High School in Tuusula, some 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki. He died later at Toolo Hospital in Helsinki.
The teen killed five boys, two girls and the female principal with a .22-caliber pistol, police said. Officials said one person was wounded by a bullet and about a dozen others suffered cuts and other injuries while fleeing the school. Officials said more than 400 students ages 12 through 18 were enrolled.
Witnesses described a scene of mayhem at the school in this leafy lakeside community, saying the shooter prowled the building looking for victims while shouting slogans for “revolution.”
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Police Chief Matti Tohkanen said the gunman didn’t have a previous criminal record. “He was from an ordinary family,” Tohkanen said. He said the teen belonged to a gun club and had gotten a license for the pistol Oct. 19.
Gun ownership is fairly common in Finland by European standards, but deadly shootings are rare.
Investigators were searching for connections to the shooter and a possible motive in YouTube postings that appeared to reveal plans for Wednesday’s deadly attack.
One video, titled “Jokela High School Massacre,” showed a picture of what appeared to be the Jokela school and two photos of a young man holding a handgun. Electronic music played in the background with a growling voice singing “I am your apocalypse.”
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.
Associated Press writers Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki, Finland, and Malin Rising, in Stockholm, Sweden, contributed to this report
