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Jokela school shooting

Coordinates: 60°32′56″N 24°57′49″E / 60.54889°N 24.96361°E / 60.54889; 24.96361
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Jokela school shooting
File:Jokela-school-shooter.jpg
Picture of 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen
Location Tuusula, Uusimaa, Finland
Coordinates60°32′56″N 24°57′49″E / 60.54889°N 24.96361°E / 60.54889; 24.96361
DateWednesday, November 7, 2007
11:40-15:00[1] (EET)
TargetJokela School Centre
Attack type
School shooting, mass murder, massacre
WeaponsSIG Mosquito .22 calibre
Deaths8 [2]
Injured12 [disputed – discuss]
PerpetratorsPekka-Eric Auvinen

The Jokela school shooting occurred on November 7, 2007, at the Jokela School Centre (Jokelan koulukeskus), a public secondary school in Tuusula, Finland. The incident resulted in deaths of nine people: seven students (five male and two female), the shooter himself and the headmistress of the school.

This was the second time that a shooting spree occurred at a Finnish school. The only other time such an incident occurred was in 1989 at the Raumanmeri school, in Rauma, when a 14-year old fatally shot two students.[3][4]

The shootings

Location of Tuusula in Finland

At approximately 11:40 a.m. local time (9:40 a.m GMT) a student opened fire at the Jokela School Centre. There was widespread chaos and panic. The school headmistress was heard over the PA system instructing everyone to stay in the classrooms with the doors barricaded. Some of the students smashed windows in order to get out.

Some 100 heavily armed police, including the Finnish SWAT-equivalent unit Karhuryhmä, started arriving at about 11.55 a.m. and surrounded the school. The gunman fired a shot at a policemen but missed. The gunman had been walking around, knocking on classroom doors, then firing through the doors. He seems to have been shooting people at random, with the possible exception of the headmistress, who was the only non-student victim.

At least eight people were reported to have been killed by the gunman.[5][2] Of the seven students who fell victim to the shooter, five were male and two female.[6] One more person suffered gunshot wounds and an unspecified number of people were injured by shattering glass as they were escaping from the school building.

The crisis was resolved as the shooter turned his gun on himself, inflicting eventually fatal wounds to the head. However, the police being unaware of his fate took another four hours to secure the building.

The gunman's weapon, which had been described by the media as a "small-calibre handgun", was a SIG Mosquito .22 calibre pistol[7] that had been legally obtained and registered to the perpetrator on October 19.[8] He was a member of a local shooting club and had no previous criminal record.[9]

The perpetrator

The shooter was an 18-year-old male student, named Pekka-Eric Auvinen who attended the school. According to his friends, he was lonely and heavily teased in school. Auvinen built his own lifestance with full of hate.[10]

He is reported to have uploaded a home-made movie to YouTube announcing the "massacre" hours prior to the shooting.[11] His profile featured several movies regarding an ongoing depression[citation needed] and unsuccessful treatment with SSRIs[citation needed]. Additionally, some movies of him shooting his new gun had been uploaded weeks prior to the shooting. Several hours after the event, YouTube suspended his account, sturmgeist89, due to a terms of use violation.[12] His previous YouTube account name was "naturalselector89" which he had from April until October before getting suspended. He idolized figures such as Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, and many of his videos praised social darwinism.[citation needed]

His professed interests according to profile materials were natural selection and hate for humanity. One of his main inspiration sources was Pentti Linkola, a Finnish ecofascist.[citation needed] According to his YouTube page he didn't want anything to be blamed for the shooting "not books, not computer games, not anything" and it was something he had planned "in [his] own head".[13]

He released a media pack before the shooting explaining his actions and motivations. It includes details of the attack, a manifesto, his "loves & hates", images of himself and a video of him firing a handgun.[14]

Auvinen was hospitalized in critical condition from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head according to Finnish medical officials and police,[15] and died that evening.[16]

Responses to the incident

Flags are to be flown half-staff on Thursday, and the Finnish government will hold a moment of silence while in session. Condolences have arrived from the President and Prime Minister of Finland, as well as from the King of Sweden and the president of Estonia.

See also

References

  1. ^ Hannes Markkula. "Jokelan kouluammuskelussa kuoli kahdeksan". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  2. ^ a b "Fatal shooting at Finnish school". BBC News. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ "School Shootings Rare in Finland". YLE. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ See:the list of school shootings article.
  5. ^ CNN report on the day of the shooting
  6. ^ The Finnish Government. Finnish Government Information Event (ASX) (TV). Finland: YLE. Event occurs at 18:00. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonth= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Aftonbladet: Skolskjutning i Finland, 7 November 2007 Template:Sv
  8. ^ "School shooter kills eight in Finland". Reuters. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Kahdeksan kuoli Jokelan koulun verilöylyssä, ampuja ampui itseään". Helsingin Sanomat. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ "Yksin viihtyvä nuorukainen rakensi oman elämänkatsomuksensa". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  11. ^ "Lukiolaismies jätti verkkoon runsaasti tietoa tulevasta hyökkäyksestä". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  12. ^ "YouTube Video". Self-published. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  13. ^ "Internetissä ennakoitiin ammuskelua kirjoituksin ja videoin". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  14. ^ "Index of /pres/a/jokela". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  15. ^ "Jokelan kouluverilöylyssä kuoli yhdeksän ihmistä". STT News Reports. {{cite web}}: Text "Retrieved 2007-11-07" ignored (help)
  16. ^ "Nine dead after Finland school shooting". The Age. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
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