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Jokela school shooting

Coordinates: 60°32′56″N 24°57′49″E / 60.54889°N 24.96361°E / 60.54889; 24.96361
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Jokela school shooting
Location Tuusula, Uusimaa, Finland
Coordinates60°32′56″N 24°57′49″E / 60.54889°N 24.96361°E / 60.54889; 24.96361
DateWednesday, November 7, 2007
11:40-15:00[1] (EET)
TargetJokela School Centre
Attack type
School shooting, mass murder, massacre
WeaponsSIG Mosquito .22 calibre
Deaths9 (including the perpetator)[2][3]
Injured12
PerpetratorsPekka-Eric Auvinen

The Jokela school shooting occurred on November 7, 2007, at the Jokela School Centre (Jokelan koulukeskus), a public secondary school in Tuusula, Finland. The incident resulted in deaths of nine people: seven students (five male and two female), the shooter himself as well as the school principal. Hours before the incident, a video was posted on YouTube predicting a massacre at the school.

This was the second time that a shooting spree has occurred at a Finnish school. The only other time such an incident occurred in Finland was in 1989 at the Raumanmeri school, in Rauma, when a 14-year old fatally shot two students.[4]

Timeline

Location of Tuusula in Finland

At approximately 11:40 a.m. local time (9:40 a.m GMT) a student opened fire at the Jokela School Centre. There was widespread chaos and panic. The school principal was heard over the PA system instructing everyone to stay in the classrooms with the doors barricaded. Some of the students smashed windows in order to get out.

Some 100 heavily armed police, including the Finnish SWAT-equivalent unit Karhuryhmä, started arriving at about 11:55 a.m. and surrounded the school. The gunman fired a shot at a policeman but missed. The gunman had been walking around, knocking on classroom doors, then firing through the doors. He seems to have been shooting people at random, with the possible exception of the school principal, Mrs Helena Kalmi, who was the only non-student victim.[citation needed]

At least eight people were reported to have been killed by the gunman.[2][3] Of the seven students who fell victim to the shooter, five were male and two female.[5] One more person suffered gunshot wounds and twelve people were injured by shattering glass as they were escaping from the school building.

The crisis was resolved as the shooter turned his gun on himself, inflicting eventually fatal wounds to the head at 12:04 p.m. local time (10:04 a.m GMT). However, the police, unaware of his fate, took another three hours to secure the building. Policemen did not fire a single bullet.

The gunman's weapon, which had been described by the media as a "small-calibre handgun", was a SIG Mosquito .22 calibre pistol[6] that had been legally obtained and registered to the perpetrator on October 19.[7] He was a member of a local shooting club and had no previous criminal record.[8]

Pekka-Eric Auvinen

File:Jokela-school-shooter.jpg

An editor has nominated the above file for discussion of its purpose and/or potential deletion. You are welcome to participate in the discussion and help reach a consensus.Perpetrator Pekka-Eric Auvinen from one of the videos he posted to the internet prior to the shooting.

The shooter was an 18-year-old male student, named Pekka-Eric Auvinen who attended the school. According to his friends, he was lonely and the victim of bullying in school. Auvinen built his own lifestance full of hate. He got a license to own a gun a few weeks before the school shootings.[9] Auvinen was a member of a local shooting club. According to his teacher Auvinen was an above-average student, and interested in history, philosophy and both extreme right and left wing movements.[10]

He is reported to have uploaded a home-made movie to YouTube announcing the "massacre" hours prior to the shooting.[11] Additionally, some movies [12] of him shooting his new gun had been uploaded weeks prior to the shooting. Several hours after the event, YouTube suspended his account, sturmgeist89, due to a terms of use violation.[13] His previous YouTube account name was "naturalselector89" which he had from April until October before getting suspended. Many of his videos were about other shootings and violent incidents, including the Columbine school shootings, the Waco Siege, the Tokyo sarin gas attack, and bombing during the Iraq invasion.[2]

His professed interests according to profile materials were natural selection and hate for humanity. According to his YouTube page he didn't want anything to be blamed for the shooting "not books, not computer games, not anything" and it was something he had planned "in [his] own head".[14]

He released a media pack before the shooting explaining his actions and motivations. It includes details of the attack, a manifesto, his "loves & hates", images of himself and a video of him firing a handgun.[15] The YouTube video, entitled "Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007", was posted by a user called Sturmgeist89. "I am prepared to fight and die for my cause," read a posting by a user of the same name. "I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection." "Sturmgeist" means storm spirit in German.[2]

The Auvinen Family lives in Jokela. His father is a part-time musician and his mother was a vice deputy in Tuusula municipal council.[9]

After the shooting, Auvinen was found unconscious with a serious self-inflicted head injury. He was taken to a hospital, but died later the same evening from his injuries.[16][17][18]

Responses to the incident

Flags are to be flown at half-staff on Thursday, and the Finnish government will hold a moment of silence while in session and Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen sent "his government's heartfelt condolences".[19] Finnish President Tarja Halonen, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Icelandic President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves also sent condolences.

See also

References

  1. ^ Hannes Markkula. "Jokelan kouluammuskelussa kuoli kahdeksan". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  2. ^ a b c d "Teen gunman dead from critical injuries who opened fire on Finnish classmates". CNN. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b "Fatal shooting at Finnish school". BBC News. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "School Shootings Rare in Finland". YLE. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ The Finnish Government. Finnish Government Information Event (ASX) (TV). Finland: YLE. Event occurs at 18:00. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite AV media}}: Unknown parameter |accessmonth= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ Aftonbladet: Skolskjutning i Finland, 7 November 2007 Template:Sv
  7. ^ "School shooter kills eight in Finland". Reuters. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "Kahdeksan kuoli Jokelan koulun verilöylyssä, ampuja ampui itseään". Helsingin Sanomat. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b "Yksin viihtyvä nuorukainen rakensi oman elämänkatsomuksensa". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  10. ^ "Eight killed in school shooting in Jokela, north of Helsinki, gunman in critical condition". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  11. ^ "Lukiolaismies jätti verkkoon runsaasti tietoa tulevasta hyökkäyksestä". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  12. ^ Pre-massacre videos originally posted to the now terminated sturmgeist89 account on Youtube. Retrieved on 2007-11-08.
  13. ^ "YouTube Video". Self-published. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  14. ^ "Internetissä ennakoitiin ammuskelua kirjoituksin ja videoin". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  15. ^ "Index of /pres/a/jokela". Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  16. ^ "Jokelan kouluverilöylyssä kuoli yhdeksän ihmistä". STT News Reports. {{cite web}}: Text "Retrieved 2007-11-07" ignored (help)
  17. ^ "Nine dead after Finland school shooting". The Age. Retrieved 2007-11-07. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Teen dead who opened fire on Finnish classmates, police say". CNN. {{cite web}}: Text "Retrieved 2007-11-07" ignored (help)
  19. ^ "Finnish PM extends condolences to school shooting victims". 2007-11-08.
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