HELSINKI, 8 November 2007 — At least eight people were killed yesterday and around a dozen wounded when a student went on the rampage at a school in southern Finland, medical officials said. “I confirm that eight people have died. Seven are students and one is a middle-aged woman,” said Eero Hirvensalo, the chief traumatology physician at Helsinki University Hospital.
Local government official Taina Vaerri described the incident at the Jokela Secondary School, north of Helsinki, as “over” and confirmed a newspaper report that the shooter was a student at the school. The Ilta-Sanomat newspaper reported that an 18-year-old student had started shooting inside a classroom.
Police spokesman said the student is in critical condition after attempting to commit suicide. “The gunman aimed his weapon at his head and fired. He’s at the Toeoeloe Hospital in Helsinki. He’s in critical condition,” he added.
“Suddenly people began running and shots were heard and began raining down,” student Miro Lukinmaa told the Iltalehti newspaper.
“Police had gone into the building and all the students were being evacuated. A crisis center has been set up near the school.
The shooting came after a video entitled “Jokela High School Massacre — 11.7. 2007” was posted on the video-sharing website YouTube warning there would be a bloodbath at the school.
The video zooms in on the school with heavy metal music blaring in the background and shows a young man against a red background pointing a gun at the camera. Within hours of the shooting, the video had been downloaded more than 140,000 times.
In his bio on YouTube, 18-year-old Sturmgeist89 who posted the video and has no confirmed links to the shooting, says: “I am prepared to fight and die for my cause.
“I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection.”
