Student launched deadly attack at Finnish vocational college using a sword – eyewitnesses

A student who brought a sword to class pulled the weapon from their bag and began attacking classmates and a teacher, according to eyewitness reports from Finland. Police say one person died in the attack.

The vocational college is based in a shopping mall in Kuopio, eastern Finland. A local auto technician who worked nearby rushed to the aid of some of the victims, telling Finnish news outlet MTV that the first people he met were a male student and a female teacher, aged in her 30s.

The student told him that one of his colleagues, who arrived late to class on Tuesday, had secreted a sword in their bag and pulled it out when suddenly launching the attack. 

“By the time I went to help the classmate, there were other calls for help. Along the corridor, students fled to the store,” Roosa Kokkonen said. 

Kokkonen also said there was a delay in paramedics being allowed on the scene to treat the injured because the attacker had proceeded to wander through the mall, sparking chaos and an armed police response. 

Eyewitnesses cited by Keskisuomalainen said that the attacker first stabbed a girl before turning on several other people, and that he had also ignited some small fire bombs at the scene.

A 16-year-old student who was in another classroom at the time of the attack said she heard a loud shout from a man, but couldn’t understand what he was saying. Janette Blomberg told Helsingin Sanomat that amid the confusion, her teacher said the class should remain in place until they were given the go-ahead to leave.

Once that permission came, Blomberg said she and her classmates quickly left, but “on the way I saw blood on the floor” and two injured women. She didn’t see the suspect, but saw “flames and smoke” coming from the second story of the building. 

The students have been told they don’t have to attend school on Wednesday, Blomberg added.

Police shot the attacker before apprehending him at the scene. At least 10 people were injured in the attack. Officers said in an update on Twitter that two of the injured are in a serious condition.

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