Kauhajoki police apparently informed about alarming videos earlier than believed

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As we reported breifly yesterday, on Monday the prosecutor suddenly postponed the court hearing scheduled for May that was to handle the alleged negligence of a Kauhajoki police officer immediately before last September's fatal school shootings.
      According to the prosecutor, he has not been given all information by the police relating to the events preceding the bloodbath at the school, in which ten people were killed before the gunman turned his weapon on himself.
      Apparently, a report to police of a potentially dangerous individual was made earlier than first believed.
     
The Detective Inspector concerned was to be indicted for negligence for not confiscating the firearm from Matti Juhani Saari, the gunman in the shootings at a vocational school in Kauhajoki last September.
      The prosecutor has now launched an additional investigation into the case, which could change the designation of the crime that the officer is to be charged with.
     
The widower and child of a 26-year-old female student who was killed in the shooting at the Kauhajoki school have authorised their lawyer to announce that they are demanding the Detective Inspector be charged with aggravated manslaughter, while also claiming compensation for their loss from the state.
      The problems with information flow were revealed when Lasse Vuola, the lawyer of the family concerned, gained access to the material on the school shooting investigations gathered by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
     
A friend of Matti Saari had warned the Haapajärvi police by e-mail already five to seven days prior to the massacre in Kauhajoki.
      Vuola believes that the Haapajärvi police passed the message further to Kauhajoki.
      In the message, the friend warned the police of Saari’s potential plans to commit a school massacre, referring to his behaviour on the Internet.
      Until today, it has been believed that the local police had been made aware of Saari’s shooting videos four days prior to the school shooting incident.
     
The earlier warning was not mentioned in the firearm permit investigation which led to the decision to raise charges against the police officer.
      Prosecutor Jouko Nurminen reports that the NBI material also contained other information that he was not aware of, and this is to be investigated further.
      ”I cannot say why this information has not been conveyed from one separate criminal investigation to another”, he notes with some amazement.
      Vuola regards the situation as inconceivable and calls for a report on the matter.
      The case will be handled in due course at the Kauhajoki District Court.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Child of Kauhajoki school shooting victim to pursue claim of negligent manslaughter against police officer (27.4.2009)
  Kauhajoki police officer claims there were no legal grounds to confiscate killer´s handgun (27.3.2009)
  Police officer in Kauhajoki shooting case to be charged with negligence (27.1.2009)
  Eleven die in shooting bloodbath (24.9.2008)

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