Fatal shooting at Finnish school

[chesbomb]

At least one person has been killed and three others injured in a shooting incident at a school in southern Finland, local media reports.

Police gave no details of the victims' injuries in the incident in the town of Tuusula, some 50km (30 miles) north of the capital Helsinki.

Finnish media reported that the shots had been fired by an 18-year-old man who is thought to be inside the school.

The building has now been surrounded by police and ambulances are on standby.

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A Tuusula municipality spokesman said the gunman opened fire during a lesson, Finland's STT news agency said.

Students and staff fled in panic, and a number of heavily armed police were later seen rushing to the scene, STT said.

Some media reports suggested a message on the You Tube website was linked to the shooting.

The school reportedly has several hundred students.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7082795.stm

[Touhu]

Thats fucked up... I didn´t think I would ever hear of fatal shooting here in Finland.. well at least not in school!

[Big T]

yea that's fucked up... and I live in Tuusula

[chesbomb]

UPDATE: 8 DEAD IN SHOOTING

At least eight people were shot dead and 11 others injured at a Finnish school today in a bloody rampage by a teenage gunman who posted a video of his planned massacre on YouTube hours before.

Police said the gunman has shot himself and has been hospitalised. The principal of the school was among the dead.

"Five boys, two girls and one adult woman were killed," Police Chief Matti Tohkanen told a news conference, later identifying the woman as the principal of the Jokela high school in Tuusula, 30 miles north of Helsinki.

The school building has been evacuated and police inspector Tero Haapala earlier reportedly said the situation was under control - but would not comment on reports the gunman had been arrested.

Mr Haapala had said that "there is no danger to outsiders".

Teacher Kim Kiuru told of students seeing the gunman running towards him with a gun, and of students jumping from windows in a desperate bid to escape.

"He (the gunman) was moving systematically through the school hallways, knocking on the doors and shooting through the doors," said Kim Kiuru, who was teaching a grade 8 class when the shooting began.

"It felt unreal, a pupil I have taught myself was running towards me, screaming, a pistol in his hand."

He said the first he knew of the incident was when the head announced over the public address system just before noon (1000GMT) that all students should remain in their classrooms.

"I stayed in the corridor to listen to more instructions, having locked my classroom door.

"After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small-calibre handgun in his hand through the doors toward me, after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction."

He said he saw a woman's body as he fled the building.

"Then my pupils shouted at me out of the windows to ask what they should do and I told them to jump out of the windows ... and all my pupils were saved."

Outside a church community building close by, a mother waited as a Red Cross bus pulled up outside. She watched children stepping off the bus and burst into tears when, through a window, she spotted her child, unharmed.

Among the gunman's victims was the school head but it is not known if they survived. A medical team leader at the scene said the final death total could be even higher.

"It's at least seven dead," medical response leader Eero Hirvensalo said. One person was "severely injured" while 10 people had minor injuries, he said, adding it was unclear whether the gunman was among them.

Earlier, Tuusula municipal official Heidi Hagman said the gunman had shot four people and that "one of those shot is probably the principal".

Most of the 400 pupils, aged between 12 and 18, managed to flee the school.

The unnamed gunman apparently posted a video called "Jokela high school massacre" on the YouTube website, the latest of dozens he listed over the last fortnight. Set to a hard-driving song called "Stray Bullet", it shows a boy standing with a gun pointed towards the camera.

Going only by the username Sturmgeist89, he calls himself a "social darwinist". "I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," read a posting by a user of the same name.

"I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection."

"Sturmgeist" means storm spirit in German.

The videos have now been removed from the website. Media said the gunman had repeatedly expressed his admiration for Hitler and Stalin.

The profile contained a text calling for a "revolution against the system." Police could not immediately be reached to comment on the video.

The shootings are the first such incidents in Finnish history - previous school confrontations have involved knives at worst and no one has died.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen described the situation as "extremely tragic" and said the government would hold an emergency meeting.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...11&ito=newsnow

shit is fucked up.

[cheddaboy313]

damn, that's unfortunate

[akiddd1987]

That's fucked up

[agtef]

Finland? You would never expect something like this to happen in Finland.

[NBS]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44ix6...811&ito=newsno

[ph15h]

Originally Posted by agtef

Finland? You would never expect something like this to happen in Finland.

hopefully nothing happened to the ppl that make nokias

[Grimy]

Yeah, saw this on the news just like 30 mins ago