UPDATED 23:00: School shooting in Kauhajoki - Eleven dead, many injured
22-year-old man enters school armed with automatic pistol and opens fire on class of adult students before turning gun on himself
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Eleven people, mostly students, have been killed in a shooting incident and fire at a vocational school in Kauhajoki in Western Finland.
Several others have been injured.
A 22-year-old male student dressed in black and wearing a ski-mask entered the school carrying a large bag, and opened fire on students at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Police at the scene immediately reported several fatalities, but the true death-toll was only made clear some hours after the incident.
The building was evacuated, and the gunman Matti Juhani Saari - who is thought to have acted alone - shot himself in the head at the end of his killing spree. The second-year culinary arts student was rushed to hospital in Tampere, where he died of his injuries at around 5 p.m., so becoming the 11th fatality.
By late evening, police had only formally identified one of the victims at the college. The work of forensic scientists was seriously hampered by the fact that many of the dead were badly burned in the fire that broke out in connection with the shootings. It is believed that Saari's volley of shots killed up to nine people, and that at least one other fatality - possibly more - may have in fact succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in the fire that then consumed their bodies. This will only be confirmed or otherwise when post mortems have been carried out.
At least one person with gunshot wounds remains in a serious condition in hospital. Most of the injured persons suffered only minor injuries, in many cases while trying to make their escape from the school building.
Around 150 students and staff-members were in the building at the time of the shooting.
Part of the school caught fire, possibly through the actions of the gunman, but firefighters put the blaze out. As noted above, the fire may have been the cause for at least one fatality, and earlier on Tuesday evening police did not completely rule out the possibility of further casualties coming to light.
The tragic incident is bound to re-open wounds from last November's hugely traumatic shooting at Jokela High School, when a deranged 18-year-old high school student named Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight before turning his gun on himself.
It is also certain to prompt discussion of firearms and their availability - the country has one of the highest levels of gun ownership in the world but has hitherto been spared the sort of firearms mayhem more traditionally associated with the United States.
Equally, given the close proximity of the Jokela shootings, and the memory of the similar death and destruction wrought by another troubled young man in 2002 at the Myyrmanni shopping mall bombing, it will almost inevitably provoke analysis of what is wrong with Finnish society in general and its young males in particular, and a search for ways of preventing the kind of marginalisation that can lead to mind-numbing acts such as these. Money for treatment of mentally unstable teenagers and others is likely to become a serious issue on the agenda in the forthcoming municipal elections.
In a grim reminder of what happened in Jokela in November last year, reports rapidly surfaced of videos on YouTube allegedly depicting a young man from Kauhajoki firing pistols at a shooting range.
As is now all too well known, a similar connection was made with the young man who opened fire at Jokela High School, and much of the early evidence emerging points to Saari's actions being a kind of copycat killing in the style of Auvinen.
Members of the Finnish government have met in special session to assess the situation. The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reports that Education Minister Sari Sarkomaa, Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund, and Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko are meeting to discuss the shooting in Kauhajoki. The chairs of the various parliamentary groups as well as police and other officials were also present.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party) deplored the loss of life, and hinted strongly that future firearms legislation would take issue with the availability of hand-guns such as those used in the Jokela and Kauhajoki killings.
Wednesday has been declared a day of national mourning.
Several others have been injured.
A 22-year-old male student dressed in black and wearing a ski-mask entered the school carrying a large bag, and opened fire on students at around 11 a.m. on Tuesday morning.
Police at the scene immediately reported several fatalities, but the true death-toll was only made clear some hours after the incident.
The building was evacuated, and the gunman Matti Juhani Saari - who is thought to have acted alone - shot himself in the head at the end of his killing spree. The second-year culinary arts student was rushed to hospital in Tampere, where he died of his injuries at around 5 p.m., so becoming the 11th fatality.
By late evening, police had only formally identified one of the victims at the college. The work of forensic scientists was seriously hampered by the fact that many of the dead were badly burned in the fire that broke out in connection with the shootings. It is believed that Saari's volley of shots killed up to nine people, and that at least one other fatality - possibly more - may have in fact succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning in the fire that then consumed their bodies. This will only be confirmed or otherwise when post mortems have been carried out.
At least one person with gunshot wounds remains in a serious condition in hospital. Most of the injured persons suffered only minor injuries, in many cases while trying to make their escape from the school building.
Around 150 students and staff-members were in the building at the time of the shooting.
Part of the school caught fire, possibly through the actions of the gunman, but firefighters put the blaze out. As noted above, the fire may have been the cause for at least one fatality, and earlier on Tuesday evening police did not completely rule out the possibility of further casualties coming to light.
The tragic incident is bound to re-open wounds from last November's hugely traumatic shooting at Jokela High School, when a deranged 18-year-old high school student named Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight before turning his gun on himself.
It is also certain to prompt discussion of firearms and their availability - the country has one of the highest levels of gun ownership in the world but has hitherto been spared the sort of firearms mayhem more traditionally associated with the United States.
Equally, given the close proximity of the Jokela shootings, and the memory of the similar death and destruction wrought by another troubled young man in 2002 at the Myyrmanni shopping mall bombing, it will almost inevitably provoke analysis of what is wrong with Finnish society in general and its young males in particular, and a search for ways of preventing the kind of marginalisation that can lead to mind-numbing acts such as these. Money for treatment of mentally unstable teenagers and others is likely to become a serious issue on the agenda in the forthcoming municipal elections.
In a grim reminder of what happened in Jokela in November last year, reports rapidly surfaced of videos on YouTube allegedly depicting a young man from Kauhajoki firing pistols at a shooting range.
As is now all too well known, a similar connection was made with the young man who opened fire at Jokela High School, and much of the early evidence emerging points to Saari's actions being a kind of copycat killing in the style of Auvinen.
Members of the Finnish government have met in special session to assess the situation. The Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE reports that Education Minister Sari Sarkomaa, Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund, and Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko are meeting to discuss the shooting in Kauhajoki. The chairs of the various parliamentary groups as well as police and other officials were also present.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre Party) deplored the loss of life, and hinted strongly that future firearms legislation would take issue with the availability of hand-guns such as those used in the Jokela and Kauhajoki killings.
Wednesday has been declared a day of national mourning.
Helsingin Sanomat