Finnish school gunman dies
- 00:02:07
- ITN
Finnish school gunman dies
A student who shot and killed ten people at a vocational school in Finland before turning the gun on himself has died in hospital. The gunman, indentified by a local government official as Matti Juhani Saari, 22, had been admitted to Tampere University Hospital in a critical condition with a head wound following the shooting. Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said police were in contact with Saari, in Kauhajoki where the incident happened, a day before the shooting. She said they had been alerted to footage posted on the internet showing him firing a handgun at a shooting range, but were unable to get in touch with him immediately. "Police reached him on Monday, September 22, and asked him to be interviewed regarding the shooting video," Ms Holmlund said. She said Saari had a temporary permit for a pistol, but that the permit was not withdrawn. "Police action will be examined in more detail later. The gunman had a temporary permit for a .22 calibre pistol, and he had received it in August 2008. It was his first gun." Jukka Forsberg, a maintenance worker at the school, said he saw a man wearing a ski mask entering the building with a large bag. Soon after, the worker heard shots fired. "A cold-blooded shooter entered the building with an automatic pistol and started cutting down students." "He also shot towards me, did not say anything and once the bullets started to whizz by I started running for my life." Four videos posted on website YouTube show a 22-year-old user who calls himself Mr Saari and lives in Kauhajoki. The videos, between 20 and 32 seconds long, show a man dressed in black or dark colours, firing at a shooting range. The YouTube user's profile included the words: "And suddenly there was war and the mothers they screamed. For revenge and reprisals for another war." Last November, Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, killed seven fellow pupils and the headmistress at Jokela High School in Tuusula, 30 miles north of Finland's capital, Helsinki.
ITN | September 23, 2008
