Gunman kills 10 at Finnish school

Gunman kills 10 at Finnish school – Associated Press (The Standard – 24/9/08)

A gunman whose violent You Tube postings made police bring him in for questing opened fire Tuesday at his trade school in western Finland, killing 10 people before shooting himself.

It was Finland’s second school massacre in less than a year.

The gunman had been questioned by police just one day before the attack about You Tube postings in which he is seen firing a handgun, Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said. He was released because there were no legal grounds to hold him, she said.

Witnesses said panic broke out as the hooded gunman entered the school in Kauhajoki, 300 kilometers northwest of Helsinki, and began firing in a classroom where students were taking an exam.

The shootings began just before 11 am local time as about 150 students were at Kauhajoki School of Hospitality.

“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 Finnish broadcaster YLE. “I saw some female students who were wailing and moaning, and one managed to escape out of the back door.”

At least one other woman had a gunshot wound to the head before the gunman shot himself in the head, authorities said.

Finnish tabloid Iifta-Sanomat reported that police had identified the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, a 22-year-old student. Authorities would only confirm that he was a student at the school and was born in 1986.

The Finnish news agency STT said the school building was on fire and the gunman reportedly had explosives on him.

The gunman and the wounded woman were taken to a hospital in Tampere, two hours away, the hospital’s medical director Matti Lehto said.

“He is shot in the head so he is severely injured,” Lehto said.

College rector Tapio Varmola told YLE the school had 150 students at the time and the shooting started in a classroom where 20 people were taking an exam.

The rampage happened almost a year after another gunman killed eight people and himself at a school in southern Finland, an attack that triggered a fierce debate about gun laws in this Nordic nation with deep-rooted traditions of hunting in the sub-Arctic wilderness.

2. Summary

It is a second school massacre in less a year in Finland and this article is concerning the last adversity. A 22-year-old student practiced shooting and uploaded the video to You Tube before attacking his trade school. He was questioned by police just one day before the attack, but he was released because there are no legal grounds to detain him. Nevertheless, the gunman shot and killed around 10 people in classroom who were taking an examination at 11am local time on next day. In addition, there were 150 people in the school and they were very shocked when they head the shots. After shooting the 10 people, he committed suicide.

3. Feedback

It is the second time that the shooting case happened in Finland, and lots of people pin the blame on the gun laws. They deem that the government should contemplate again that how about abolishing or monitoring to sell guns solemnly. But in my opinion, the responsibility is not only on the law or the government, but also on the climate of society such as violent games or films. They would act and follow the characters’ behavior and action which is mostly pornographic habits in the real word. And the main character of this news acted them to shoot as well as hurt the others. Although it is not a sensible decision, we cannot push the all censure on him entirely. Besides, such school massacres did not happen once only. There are twice in one year in Finland! That means the violent games or videos affect the people so deeply, and because of them, these tragedies would occur again and again.