Kauhajoki school shooting

Kauhajoki school shooting
A scene of the Kauhajoki vocational college campus a few hours after the shooting
LocationKauhajoki, Finland
Coordinates62°25′45″N 22°10′54″E / 62.42917°N 22.18167°E / 62.42917; 22.18167
Date23 September 2008 (2008-09-23)
c. 10:40–12:13[1] (UTC+3)
TargetKauhajoki School of Hospitality
Attack type
School shooting, mass murder, murder–suicide, arson, copycat crime
Weapons
Deaths11 (including the perpetrator)
Injured11 (1 by gunfire)[3] [better source needed]
PerpetratorMatti Juhani Saari
MotiveMisanthropy

The Kauhajoki school shooting occurred on 23 September 2008 at the Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences[4] (SeAMK) in Kauhajoki, Finland. The gunman, 22-year-old student Matti Juhani Saari, shot and killed ten people with a Walther P22 Target semi-automatic pistol, before shooting himself in the head. He died a few hours later at Tampere University Hospital.[5] One woman was injured but remained in stable condition.[6][7]

The shooting took place at the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality, owned by the Seinäjoki Municipal Federation of Education.[8] The facilities and campus were shared between SeAMK and the Seinäjoki Vocational Education Centre – Sedu.[8] Saari was a second-year student in a Hospitality Management undergraduate degree programme.[9] The incident was the second school shooting in less than a year in Finland, the other being the Jokela school shooting in November 2007, in which nine people including the gunman died. The first similar incident in the country's history was the Raumanmeri school shooting in Rauma in 1989, leaving two people dead.[10]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference timeline2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Keskustelupalstoilla arvaillaan jo Kauhajoen ampujaa" (in Finnish). Iltalehti.fi. 2008-09-23. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  3. ^ "At Least 11 Dead after Kauhajoki School Shooting". Yle. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  4. ^ "Shooting incident in Kauhajoki". News. Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences. 2008-09-23. Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-09-23. Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences and the Vocational Education Centre Sedu have encountered a tragic shooting incident in their joint premises in Kauhajoki, 60 kilometres from Seinäjoki. A student of the university of applied sciences has killed at least nine other people with gun shots.
  5. ^ Cser, Attila (2008-09-23). "Gunman kills 10, self in Finnish school shooting". Reuters. Retrieved 2008-09-24. The killer, 22-year-old Matti Saari, started a fire in the school and then shot himself in the head. He died later in Tampere University Hospital.
  6. ^ "Police: Victims Were Shooter's Classmates; One In Stable Condition". YLE News. Retrieved 2008-09-24.
  7. ^ Rayner, Gordon (2008-09-23). "Finnish school shooting: how killer 'calmly' picked off his victims". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  8. ^ a b "Kauhajoen tragediaa koskeva tiedotustilaisuus 24.9.2008". Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences. 2008-09-23. Archived from the original on 2008-09-26. Retrieved 2008-09-23.
  9. ^ "Tavallisen oloinen nuorukainen kertoi internetissä vihaavansa ihmisiä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 2008-09-23. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
  10. ^ "School Shootings Rare in Finland". YLE. 2007-11-07. Retrieved 2008-09-23.