Gunman Kills 10, Self At Finland School

(CBS/AP)  A masked gunman whose violent YouTube postings prompted police to question him a day ago opened fire Tuesday at his trade school in western Finland, killing 10 people before shooting himself in the head.

His first targets were writing an exam, reports CBS News correspondent Sheila MacVicar.

By the time police got into the building, the school was on fire, there were reports of explosives, and many students had been wounded.

The gunman, also a student, shot himself and later died in the hospital.

Last Friday, 22-year-old Matti Saari posted videos on YouTube, practicing his aim with what the Finnish government says was his legal, and only weapon.

Monday the local police, alerted to the Internet videos, called him in for questioning. They could find no reason to detain him, or to take his gun.

The shootings began just before 11 a.m. local time, as about 150 students were at the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality, 180 miles northwest of Helsinki.

"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 the back door."

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Police spokesman Jari Neulaniemi said the attacker walked into the school armed with a .22-caliber pistol and some kind of explosive devices that were used to start a fire. He killed 10 people, some of whom were burned beyond recognition, Neulaniemi said. The big bag apparently contained the explosives.

It was Finland's second school massacre in less than a year and the two attacks had eerie similarities. Both gunmen posted violent clips on YouTube prior to the massacres, both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, both attacked their own schools and both died after shooting themselves in the head.

The gunman was taken to a hospital in Tampere, about two hours away, along with a female victim he had shot in the head, hospital officials said. The gunman later died, according to hospital's medical director.

The female victim's condition was not immediately clear. Police said two people were wounded, in addition to the 10 victims and dead shooter.

Finnish broadcaster YLE said police identified the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, a 22-year-old student at the school, which offers courses in catering, tourism, nursing and home economics.

"We have experienced a tragic day," Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said as he expressed condolences to the families of the victims and declared Wednesday a day of mourning.

Finnish authorities did not confirm exactly what YouTube clips were linked to the shooter.

But in one YouTube clip, a young man wearing a leather jacket fires several shots in rapid succession with a handgun at what appears to be a shooting range.

The posting was made five days before the shooting and the location was given as Kauhajoki - the same town as Tuesday's shooting. The posting included a message saying: "Whole life is war and whole life is pain. And you will fight alone in your personal war."

The person who posted the clip identified himself as a 22-year-old named "Mr. Saari." He also posted three other clips of himself firing a handgun in the past three weeks.

Clips from the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado were listed among his favorite videos.

Another clip shown by Scandinavian media showed the alleged gunman pointing his gun to the camera and saying "You will die next" before firing four rounds.

Last November, 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 hunting traditions in the sub-Arctic wilderness.

Pekka-Eric Auvinen, described by police as a bullied 18-year-old outcast, opened fire at his high school in southern Finland on Nov. 7, killing six students, a school nurse and the principal before ending his own life.

Finnish investigators have said Auvinen left a suicide note for his family and foreshadowed his attack in YouTube postings.

With 1.6 million firearms in private hands, Finland is an anomaly in Europe, lagging behind only the United States and Yemen in civilian gun ownership, studies show.

After Auvinen's rampage, the government said it would raise the minimum age for buying guns from 15 to 18, but insisted there was no need for sweeping changes to Finland's gun laws. The age limit was never raised.

[usclimey]

I think usclimey needs to study the statistics of gun violence more thoroughly. He might then understand that even spree killings are decreased by less restrictive gun ownership laws. In Finland''''s case it is possible that guns are prohibited in schools, which makes them an easy target for psychos like Mr Saari

Posted by JehovahWtnss

A Jehovah''s Witness and a gun lover - now I''ve seen everything. You are wrong, wrong, wrong. There have been more spree killings in this country than in the rest of the world combined. There have been as many spree killing in Finalnd as the rest of Europe combined. The connection - the ease of getting guns.

Also my opinion - if this guy had shown up at the school with a baseball bat or a knife, do you really think he couldn''t have been disarmed before he killed 11 people? Sure, maybe he''d hurt 2 or 3, but no - he chose a gun so he could kill as many as possible in as short a time as possible. The other thing about a knife - it''s up close and personal - you need a lot more cojones to kill that way than shooting someone 20 ft. across a room.

[tapsettle]

See what happens when you adopt american ''culture''?

[myopinion1]

birdlikebid, snidegrass, whatever you are today, go away, please, no one cares, still.

What people cannot seem to wrap their insignificant minds around is the fact that if you take away all the guns, let''s just say the ONLY people in the world who had them were all stable police officers, people would STILL find a way to kill if they wanted to. People argue, "but no! Less people would have been killed". No, they would make bombs, set fires, trap people, there would still be the same violence, but with different weapons. I don''t understand why people don''t get that. It''s like they are so brainwashed with their own pointless droning on about it that they can''t see the obvious. I don''t even own a handgun and can figure this simple logic out.

[a21354]

In Finland, it is legal to carry a gun in a public space, including streets, schools, any public buildings, only unloaded. Furthermore there has to be an accepted reason for doing so - if you are obvioulsly not heading for a hunting trip or to a shooting alley, you can be arrested even if your gun is legal. So basically the gun laws are strict, only the legal age is low. It is definitely illegal to keep a gun at school in the purpose that you might need it for self defence.

You also need an accepted reason to obtain a gun in the first place, and self defence is not a legal reason, as protecting you is the duty of the police. However, shooting as a hobby and hunting are leagal reasons, and you do not have to belong to a club or pass any tests to get a handgun. We have national service, so practically every man at 18 receives free state of the art training in shooting, in automatic weapons as well. That has caused no problems until the very recent years, and the gun laws will no doubt be changed.

[jehovahwtnss]

I think usclimey needs to study the statistics of gun violence more thoroughly. He might then understand that even spree killings are decreased by less restrictive gun ownership laws. In Finland''s case it is possible that guns are prohibited in schools, which makes them an easy target for psychos like Mr Saari

[payasyougo]

"After Auvinen''''s rampage, the government said it would raise the minimum age for buying guns from 15 to 18."
----
And in a rare international awareness campaign, Senator Obama indicated he would help stave off such violence in the United States by raising taxes on those making more than 250k.

[techhere]

If I have a gun...................................

[souljam76]

I read that 11 are dead now

[jumkey]

Well clearly the only answer is to get more guns in the hands of the mentally ill.

[a21354]

It has not much to do with the number of guns in the country. After WW2 even automatic weapons were smuggled in large quantities from the front to enable a guerilla war against communist Russia if necessary. Having firearms and ammunition hidden in the attic was considered more patriotic than lapel pins, and together with the traditional hunting weapons the arsenal caused no problems between 1945 and 2000.

The low legal age to have a gun is not a sign of stupidity of the government, but a sign of the non-exsisting problems with firearms earlier. That has only changed in the last couple of years. I believe that around 150 people die as victims of violence in Finland every year - which is a lot - but I am quite sure that more people are hit with a knife than shot. Even ordinary kitchen knives may cause more deaths than firearms.

What scares me in this sudden change is that we know from the war that people may feel very bad about shooting, but the amount of men that absolutely cannot pull the trigger is very, very small. For the rest, it is only a matter of definition: who do you consider your enemy? Now there seems to be young men in Finland who think that the enemy can be just anybody. If that cannot be changed, then we have about million guns too many around and available. I would regulate guns strictly and immediatelly, and realize that the world has changed since my father buried the Suomi sub-machine gun in the attic.