School stabbing was preceded by squabble

Suspected perpetrator texted his friends afterwards

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The Alahärmä school-stabbing incident on Monday was preceded by a scuffle, details of which the police do not wish to reveal at this stage.
      “There has been this and that going on between these young people, and the intention is to unravel the goings-on more thoroughly”, says Det. Superintendent Urpo Lintala from the South Ostrobothnia Police.
      According to Lintala, the involved parties have all been in the same class, but the incident was not about jealousy.
      The victim of the stabbing, an 18-year-old woman, and the suspected stabber, an 18-year-old man, were classmates.
      The female victim has been operated on and is now recovering.
      Her condition is stable, but she has not been heard by the police yet.
      The man died soon afterwards in an accident where his car collided with an oncoming truck on the truck’s lane.
     
The suspected perpetrator sent text messages to some other youths immediately after the stabbing.
      “The messages were sent to his contemporaries in the short space of time between the stabbing and the car crash, but the content of these messages will not be revealed at this stage", Lintala says.
      According to Lintala, in some way the deed was planned.
      “Certainly he has contemplated this for some time, but for how long, that is difficult to answer. That information he took with him.”
     
The police are now examining the young man’s computer and searching for possible messages in the social media.
      The course of events in the school has been established.
      The man came into the class late and when the teacher opened the door he walked straight to the woman and stabbed her in the upper body.
      Then he left without saying a word. The woman was definitely the target, the police say.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Man who stabbed girl at school then apparently killed himself in truck accident (10.1.2012)

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