FINALND: Finnish police say many similarities but no proven connection between school shooters

Record ID: 805277

  • Title: FINALND: Finnish police say many similarities but no proven connection between school shooters
  • Date: 26th September 2008
  • Summary: (BN03) JOKELA, FINLAND (SEPTEMBER 25, 2008) (REUTERS) SIGN SAYING JOKELA SQUARE JOKELA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI NIEMINEN SAYING: "I do not see any reason... just madness.. it something with kind of the global culture and internet and this violence which is all around the world". VIEWS OF JOKELA EXTERIOR OF GUN SHOP WHERE SHOOTERS ALLEGEDLY PURCHASED WEAPONS GUN SHOP OW
  • Embargoed: 11th October 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVAEJCIXATCVQKTOP9I5BEWNVWND
  • Story Text: Finnish police say there are many similarities between Tuesday's school shooting in which a man shot dead 10 people and the shooting in the Finnish town of Jokela last year in which 8 people were killed, but that there is no proof of a "real connection".
    The school shooting in Kauhajoki in western Finland on Tuesday (September 23) was a fresh shock for the Nordic country which is still reeling from the massacre in the town of Jokela last November.
    Finnish police said a man who shot dead 10 people on Tuesday at a hospitality industry college had "very likely" been in contact with the student behind a similar gun rampage last year.
    Matti Saari, 22, killed nine fellow students -- eight female and one male -- and one male staff member at the college, one day after being interviewed by police about online videos of himself at a gun range.
    The National Bureau of Investigation's Jari Neulaniemi said Saari was probably also in touch with Pekka-Eric Auvinen, an 18-year-old who killed eight people last November in Jokela after broadcasting his intent in a YouTube video clip.
    Nina Lyytinen who is a care coordinator at Jokela school where last year's shootings took place said the reaction at the school had been calm, much due to the fact that the support infrastructure remained in place.

    "There have been some students who have had like flashbacks and memories of what happened here about a year ago. But it has been surprisingly calm. It is still because we have the help here coordinated already. We have the people: psychologist, the school nurse, people working to help students.
    So there is no chaos or anything like that," she said.
    Whereas police said there might be a link, there was much speculation in Finnish media.
    Media have focused on the parallels between Jokela and Kauhajoki, including boastful Internet videos and the same calibre handgun.
    Saari listed on the Web two favourite videos about the April 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, where 12 students and a teacher were killed. In one of his Internet clips, he points to the camera, says "You will die next", and fires four rapid shots.
    Both Auvinen's and Saari's acts were preceded by menacing Internet video clips.
    Like Auvinen, Saari turned his gun on himself and died later in hospital of a head wound. Police said Saari bought his gun in Jokela.
    Sami Raunio ho owns the shop where Auvinen and Saari allegedly bought their guns said toughening the law was not the solution.

    "Toughening of the gun law does not do any good. It is a simple fact. The problem is much more deeper. Problem is inside the people's mind, education, that sort of things... health care, mental health care," he said.
    He would not comment on anything specifically related to the shootings.
    The second school shooting in less than a year in a country with among the highest gun ownership rates but relatively low crime has prompted tough questions about gun ownership and the role of the Internet.
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