Police in Norway make arrest on suspicion of planning school killing

Threatening video similar to Jokela case uploaded onto YouTube

print this

Police in Norway arrested one person and enacted extensive security measures at the Erdal School in Askøy on Monday, after a video had been found on the YouTube website threatening the school with violence - in a manner similar to the perpetrator of the school massacre in Jokela in the south of Finland nearly two weeks ago.
      After the massacre at Jokela in which an 18-year-old student killed eight people and himself, there have been cases reported in the Nordic Countries, Germany, and the United States in which there have been suggestions of plans for similar atrocities.
      News of a planned school massacre in Cologne by two boys, aged 17 and 18, caused alarm Germany on Monday.
     
All pupils entering the school in Askøy underwent a body search when they arrived, and everyone had to go through a metal detector.
      On Sunday police had gone through the school with sniffer dogs looking for explosives and weapons.
      "We take this seriously, not least against the backdrop of what happened in Finland", said Liev Jan Nielsen, head teacher of the Erdal School in an interview with the newspaper Bergens Tiende.
     
A woman looking at YouTube in Britain contacted Norwegian officials on Thursday last week after seeing a video on the website. In a video in good english, Erdal School was threatened with an attack. There were clear references to the events in Jokela.
      A day later a new version of the video appeared, with John Lennon's Working Class Hero as the background music.
      The suspect was arrested on Sunday, but he was released on Monday evening. The person in question had a gun permit, and the video was uploaded onto the Internet from a computer of the municipality of Askøy. No other details were given about the person in question.
     
Teachers at the school were warned about the situation on Sunday evening, and a search was organised at the school. Askøy is an island northwest of the city of Bergen. The school has 280 pupils.
      It was reported that police considered keeping the school shut on Monday, but decided that the move was not necessary.
     
Just a day after the massacre in Jokela two teenage boys were arrested in the Eskede suburb of Stockholm on suspicion of planning to kill the school's head teacher and a number of fellow pupils.
      The elder of the two, age 17, has been taken into care by social welfare authorities, and the younger, who is 16 years old, is in police custody. They had a reputation as admiring the perpetrators of school massacres in the United States.
     
      In the United States schoolboy who had been in contact with Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the perpetrator of the Jokela shootings, was arrested for allegedly planning a mass killing at his school in Missouri.
      Police say that 14-year-old Dillon Cossey had exchanged e-mails with Auvinen, and that he had wanted to take revenge against pupils who were bullying him.
     
Police in Germany have announced that two schoolboys in Cologne, aged 17 and 18, had decided against launching a deadly attack on their school.
      Police were tipped off by classmates of the 17-year-old, a loner who suffered from bullying. The classmates were alarmed by pictures of the Columbine school massacre in the United States that the 17-year-old had on his website.
      An examination of e-mail messages exchanged by the two showed that they had given up on their plans already four weeks ago - well before the events in Jokela.
     
At that time the elder of the two had said that he did not want to go through with the plan. He had also bought weapons from his partner that he was to have used in the attack.
      Investigators said that at this point the younger of the two had also decided to back out from the plan.
      The 18-year-old's statements made during police interrogation were corroborated by messages found on the computers used by the two.
     
Somewhat embarrassing from the point of view of the police is that the younger of the two committed suicide on Friday by throwing himself in front of an oncoming tram. It has been suggested that the suspect was released from custody too early.
      Police say that the 17-year-old had agreed on Friday at a conference involving the police and school officials to remove the Columbine pictures from his website.
      The prosecutor in the case says that the older schoolboy will not be charged with a crime, but he has agreed to enter psychiatric care.

More on this subject:
 Finnish officials warn German police of possible attack on school near Dusseldorf

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Jokela: a peaceful little village thrust into world spotlight (9.11.2007)
  School massacre: Ninth graders saw killing of school principal (9.11.2007)
  Jokela shooting sparks more copycat school threats (14.11.2007)
  Jokela tries to get back to normal (13.11.2007)
  Columbine principal says Jokela will need help for a long time (11.11.2007)

Helsingin Sanomat