The shocked nation of Finland observed a national silence for three minutes Thursday, a day after a teenager stormed a high school and gunned down eight people.

Some of the shocked students from Jokela High School in Tuusula maintained a vigil outside the school north of Helsinki where Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, went on the killing spree a day earlier, CNN reported.

Finland's STT news agency said the victims included the school's female principal and nurse, five male and one female students. Auvinen shot himself in the head and died in a Helsinki hospital Wednesday night.

The government ordered all flags in the country flown at half-staff as Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said the massacre had left a "deep wound" in Finns' feeling of security.

Teachers described Auvinen as being interested in radical causes and noted the shooting came on the 90th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia.

Auvinen had posted a video on the Internet Youtube site on Tuesday showing the school and him pointing a gun at the camera. The site has removed the video.
// Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 08 November 2007   

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