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truetrini

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Gunman's body found after Finland mall shootings
« on: December 31, 2009, 09:17:37 AM »
CULTURE OF GUN VIOLENCE!

Gunman's body found after Finland mall shootings
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The Sello shopping centre has been evacuated and cordoned off

Finnish police have confirmed they have found the body of a gunman responsible for killing five people in a shooting rampage in the southern city of Espoo.

Investigators said 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli shot dead three men and a woman with a 9mm pistol at a grocery shop inside the Sello shopping centre.

One of the shop's employees, reportedly Mr Shkupolli's ex-girlfriend, was later found dead at a flat in the city.

The incident is Finland's third major shooting in the past two years.

   
My parents were just going up the escalator from the first floor when police started shouting at them to get out of the building
Antti
BBC reader, Espoo

Thursday's bloodshed reportedly broke out at about 1008 local time (0808 GMT) inside the Prisma grocery store, on the second floor.

A witness told Finland's state broadcaster, YLE, that the gunman appeared to have opened fire at random.

The victims were aged 27, 40, 42 and 45, and worked at the shopping centre, police said.

Another witness said chaos had ensued after the shots were heard.

"There were loads of people who were crying, and many vendors who were completely panicked," the witness told Finnish radio.

The gunman was later seen walking towards another shop.

Ibrahim Shkupolli (Finnish police handout)
Police named the gunman as Ibrahim Shkupolli, who has a criminal record

A fifth victim, a Prisma employee identified by YLE as Mr Shkupolli's ex-girlfriend, was later found dead at a flat on the outskirts of Espoo. Investigators said the killing was believed to have had a "domestic" motive, and that there had been a restraining order in place against Mr Shkupolli.

When police then went to Mr Shkupolli's flat, they found his body.

"The four victims in the shopping centre were, in a way, outsiders. It looks like the incident is linked to the fifth victim," Chief Inspector Jukka Kaski told a news conference.

"She seems to have been the gunman's main target and the whole shooting is tied up with the relationship between her and the gunman," he added.

The Sello centre remains cordoned off, and trains are not stopping at the local railway station. Ambulances and police are still outside.

Gun laws tightened

There is a long tradition of hunting in Finland, which has vast areas of forest and wilderness, but until recently gun crime has been rare.

But two deadly shootings in recent years focused attention on gun laws in a country where young people were permitted to own and use a firearm at 15 years of age if they had parental consent.

Map shopwing Sello shopping centre area in Espoo

In November 2007, an 18-year-old went on a gun rampage at his school in Tuusula, killing seven pupils and a teacher, before turning the gun on himself. He had posted a video warning of the attack on the internet.

Then, in September 2008, a 22-year-old trainee chef killed 10 people at a college before killing himself.

He, too, had put a video on the internet showing himself shooting a gun. After doing that he was interviewed by police, but they decided it was not sufficient reason to revoke his gun licence.

After the second attack, stricter rules on permits for pistols and revolvers were introduced.

Handgun permits would no longer be granted to first-time applicants, the interior ministry said.

Instead, they must train for at least a year at a gun club before being allowed to apply for a permit.

All applicants must also provide a note from a doctor about their mental health and sit an interview with police.

 

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