Finland – Shooting Spree At Vocational School Kills 9
September 23, 2008 by national
Filed under Stories of Interest
A gunman opened fire at a vocational school for adults in western Finland on Tuesday before shooting himself, police said. Finnish media reported nine people were killed and the gunman was wounded.
The shootings began just before 11 a.m. local time as about 150 students went to class in Kauhajoki, 180 miles northwest of Helsinki. Witnesses said panic broke out as the hooded gunman entered the school and began firing.
“Within a short space of time I heard several dozen rounds of shots, in other words it was an automatic pistol,” school janitor Jukka Forsberg told broadcaster YLE. “I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning and one managed to escape out of the back door.”
YLE, citing police at the school, reported nine people were killed. The Finnish news agency STT said the school building was on fire and the gunman reportedly had explosives on him.
