HELSINKI, FINLAND — A bullied teenage outcast with radical views scribbled a suicide note bidding farewell to his family before unleashing an indiscriminate killing campaign at his high school, police said Thursday.
As the grim details emerged of a premeditated massacre by a youth consumed with anger against society, stunned Finns mourned the victims of his deadly rampage. Flags across the Nordic nation flew at half staff.
Armed with a semiautomatic handgun and 500 rounds of ammunition, 18-year-old Pekka- Eric Auvinen emptied nearly 20 rounds into some of his eight victims Wednesday, police said.
He also tried to set the school building on fire in what police said was a well-prepared attack that Auvinen had foreshadowed in Internet postings.
Grieving students placed candles outside the sealed-off high school in Tuusula, about 30 miles north of the capital, Helsinki.
A day of mourning was declared and memorial services were held across the country, including in Tuusula, a town of 34,000 people, where a church was turned into a crisis center with experts on hand to offer comfort.
The president attended a memorial service in the capital.
Police said Auvinen left a suicide note “saying goodbye to his family and a message … indicating his will against society.” They said he appeared bent on causing maximum bloodshed as he opened fire.
Apparently selecting his victims randomly, Auvinen killed six fellow students, the school nurse and the principal before turning the gun on himself, police said.
More than 400 students aged 12-18 were enrolled at the school.
