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Finland memorial for gun victims | Finland memorial for gun victims |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A memorial service has taken place in Finland for victims of a high school shooting. | |
On Tuesday, Matti Juhani Saari, aged 22, shot 10 people in Kauhajoki, before turning his gun on himself. | On Tuesday, Matti Juhani Saari, aged 22, shot 10 people in Kauhajoki, before turning his gun on himself. |
President Tarja Halonen and students of Kauhajoki Vocational School, where the shootings took place, attended the church service, broadcast live on TV. | |
The murders took place less than a year after another school shooting in which nine people died, including the killer. | The murders took place less than a year after another school shooting in which nine people died, including the killer. |
A choir sang during the service and candles were lit to commemorate all those who had died in the attack, including Saari. | |
Bishop Simo Peura said the murders had "caused a sore loss for individual families and the whole nation". | |
"All of us are needed to carry that sorrow," he said. | |
Possible links | |
Saari, a 22-year-old student at the school, was seen entering the school dressed in black and wearing a ski mask. | |
He killed nine people in one classroom and fatally wounded another in a hallway before setting the school on fire. | He killed nine people in one classroom and fatally wounded another in a hallway before setting the school on fire. |
He then shot himself and later died in hospital. | He then shot himself and later died in hospital. |
Eight of his victims were female students and one was a teacher. | Eight of his victims were female students and one was a teacher. |
Investigators say they are studying a possible link between the shootings and a similar murder spree at a school north of Helsinki last year. | Investigators say they are studying a possible link between the shootings and a similar murder spree at a school north of Helsinki last year. |
The massacres have provoked the government into considering tightening the country's gun laws, among the loosest in Europe. | The massacres have provoked the government into considering tightening the country's gun laws, among the loosest in Europe. |
Finns have the third highest ratio of gun ownership in the world, after the US and Yemen, according to an international survey of small arms carried out in 2007. | Finns have the third highest ratio of gun ownership in the world, after the US and Yemen, according to an international survey of small arms carried out in 2007. |