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 29 August 2008 07:17 BST

Finland school gunman dies

Thursday, 08 Nov 2007 09:26
Eight people killed at high school shooting in southern Finland; hours after YouTube video predicted massacre
A teenage gunman who killed seven students and the headmistress at his school in Finland has died, police have said.

Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, was pronounced dead by hospital staff after he shot himself at the end of his bloody rampage through Jokela high school, Tuusula, which is about 60km north of the capital Helsinki.

Finland's prime minister Matti Vanhanen, who has declared a day of national mourning, described yesterday's events as "extremely tragic".

Wednesday's shootings had been predicted by a video posted on YouTube several hours before gunfire was first reported at noon local time (10:00 GMT).

The video, since removed, featured a still image of the school that slowly transforms into a red-tinted picture of a man pointing a gun at the camera.

Titled Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007, the video was posted by a user called Sturmgeist89, who explains on his profile page that his name means 'storm spirit' in German.

Describing the shootings, Kim Kiuru, a teacher at Jokela high school, which has more than 400 students, told YLE radio: "I stayed in the corridor to listen to more instructions having locked my classroom door.

"After that I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small calibre handgun in his hand through the doors toward me after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction."

Mr Kiuru said that he had told his students to jump out of the classroom windows and that all had survived.

The deaths of the seven students – five male and two female – and the school's headmistress represent the first gun-related killings at a school in Finland.

"This is a peaceful place, nothing like this has happened and nothing like this is to be expected either," said Hannu Joensivusaid, the mayor of Tuusula.End of story


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