Deadly rampage at Finland school

Student kills pupils and schoolhead after posting a warning on the internet.

Finland school shooting
Witnesses described panic as Auvinen shot his headmistress and students as they tried to flee [AFP]
Witnesses described chaos and panic as Auvinen shot dead his headmistress, five boys, two girls, and wounded a dozen others as they tried to flee the carnage.
 
Internet warning
 
Miro Lukinmaa, a student, told the Iltalehti newspaper: “Suddenly people began running and shots were heard and began raining down.
 

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Auvinen had signalled his intentions in
a video posted on the internet [AFP]

“I saw injured people lying in the corridor. We started to run and followed [the crowd] in panic. Everyone was trying to squeeze through a narrow door.”

 
The shooting came after a video entitled “Jokela High School Massacre – 11/7/2007” was posted on the video-sharing website YouTube.
 
The video shows a still photo of a low building that appears to be the Jokela High School.
 
The photo then breaks apart to reveal a red-tinted picture of a man pointing a handgun at the camera.
 
“He [Auvinen] 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.”
 
Hannu Joensivusaid, the mayor of Tuusula, said: “This is a peaceful place, nothing like this has happened and nothing like this is to be expected either.”
 
Despite having the world’s third-largest per capita handgun ownership, violent incidents are rare at Finnish schools.
 
Tuusula is a town of 35,000, around 60km from the capital, Helsinki.
Source: News Agencies