Jokela school shooting
School shooting in Tuusula, Finland
The Jokela school shooting occurred on 7 November 2007, at Jokela High School in Jokela, a town in the municipality of Tuusula, Finland. The gunman, 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen, armed with a SIG Sauer Mosquito semi-automatic pistol, killed eight people and wounded one person in the toe before shooting himself in the head; twelve others were also injured by flying shattered glass or sprained ankles.
Quotes
edit- I have no mercy for the scum of the earth, the pathetic human race. Hate, I'm so full of it and I love it. That is one thing I really love. I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection. Death and killing is not a tragedy. It happens in nature all the time. There is a final solution - the death of the entire human race. It would solve every problem of humanity. The faster the human race is wiped out from this planet, the better. No one should be left alive.
- Pekka-Eric Auvinen on YouTube (Ellis, Mark (November 8, 2007). "The Faster the Human Race is Wiped Out the Better.. as a Natural selector I Will Eliminate all those Who I See as Unfit; Gunman in Sick Internet Rant before Killing 8 in School". Daily Record (Glasgow): p. 6.)
- In another YouTube posting, the teenage Nazi posed with his 10- shot, .22 Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun.
- Ellis, Mark (November 8, 2007). "The Faster the Human Race is Wiped Out the Better.. as a Natural selector I Will Eliminate all those Who I See as Unfit; Gunman in Sick Internet Rant before Killing 8 in School". Daily Record (Glasgow): p. 6.
- The perpetrator visited a gun shop in Jokela on 2 November 2007. A Ruger MKIII gun was not, however, available at that time. Instead, he purchased a semi-automatic Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol with 10-round capacity and 500 rounds for it. This happened five days before the shooting incident.
- Petäjäniemi, Tuulikki (Chairman); Valonen, Kai (LL.M. Secretary, Chief Accident Investigator) (February 26, 2009). Jokela School Shooting on 7 November 2007: Report of the Investigation Commission. Ministry of Justice.
- Auvinen shot the victims with a .22-caliber Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol, police said, adding that about a dozen other people were injured as they tried to escape from the school.
- "Finnish Cops Tracing School Shooter's Path". Associated Press. CBS News. November 11, 2007.; "Finland school shooter's suicide note examined". USA Today. Associated Press. November 11, 2007.; "Police: Finland teen shooter left a suicide note". NBC News. November 8, 2007.
- Auvinen, a loner and a member of Helsinki Shooting Club who acquired his weapon legally, was described as being "very angry at society". He carried out the shootings while armed with 500 bullets and a .22 calibre Sig Sauer mosquito pistol bought three weeks before he ran amok at his former school.
- Peterkin, Tom (September 23, 2008). "Finnish school shooting echoes Jokela High School massacre". The Daily Telegraph.
- Considering the destruction Auvinen caused using a small .22 semiautomatic Sig Sauer "Mosquito," purchased less than a month earlier, it's unsettling to learn he'd tried to get a license for a more potent .9 mm. His application, based on a recommendation from hi shooting club, was refused because the larger weapon was considered too powerful for his stated purpose of "target practice." After his attack, the Finnish government proposed raising the minimum age for buying guns from fifteen to eighteen, although Auvinen was already that old.
- Lieberman, Joseph (August 26, 2008). School Shootings: What Every Parent and Educator Needs to Know to Protect Our Children. Citadel Press. ISBN 9780806530710.
- Armed with 500 bullets and a .22 calibre Sig-Sauer mosquito pistol bought three weeks ago, Auvinen fired indiscriminately.
All his victims, who have been identified but not named, died from numerous bullets to the head and upper body. "Nothing could be done to save them," said Detective Chief Superintendent Jan Nyholm, from the National Bureau of Investigation.- Gammell, Caroline (November 9, 2007). "Finnish School Killer Tried to Set the Building on Fire". The Daily Telegraph: p. 21.
- Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot each of his victims in the head or upper body with a .22-caliber Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol as he roamed the three floors of the yellow lakeside high school, investigators said. After spraying a burst of gunfire into the cafeteria, Auvinen ended the blood bath in an adjoining restroom, where he aimed at his own skull the last bullet he fired, police said.
- Whitlock, Craig (November 9, 2007). "Finland's Gun Culture Facing New Questions; Details of Deadly School Shooting Released". Washington Post.
- The two 18-year-olds in Columbine had planned to set the school on fire in order to spread panic. This appears to have also featured in the plans of Auvinen.
However, he brought only a small quantity of lighter fuel, not enough to cause a blaze. Instead he relied on an enormous cache of ammunition for his Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun. He pumped 68 bullets into his eight victims; the 69th he shot into his own skull. Police found 500 rounds of unused ammunition in his rucksack.- Boyes, Roger (November 10, 2007). "The Cyber School for Killers". The Times (London): p. 45.
- Now, news that an 18-year-old used one of the country's easily available handguns to kill eight people in a suburban high school less than an hour's drive north of here has some Finns wondering whether the country's gun laws should be tightened....
Pekka-Eric Auvinen shot each of his victims in the head or upper body with a .22-caliber Sig Sauer Mosquito pistol as he roamed the three floors of the yellow lakeside high school, investigators said. After spraying a burst of gunfire into the cafeteria, Mr. Auvinen ended the blood bath in an adjoining restroom, where he aimed at his own skull the last bullet he fired, police said.- Whitlock, Craig (November 13, 2007). "Finns Question their Gun Culture; School Rampage Stirs Talk of Tougher Laws for Getting Firearms". Wall Street Journal: p. 12.
