Today in history: On September 23, 2008 – Matti Saari kills ten people at a school in Finland before committing suicide.

 

On September 23, 2008, a tragic school shooting took place in Kauhajoki, Finland, when 22-year-old Matti Saari, a student at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences, opened fire inside the school. Armed with a semi-automatic pistol, Saari entered a classroom during an exam and began shooting indiscriminately at students. He killed ten people, most of them young students, and injured several others before setting parts of the building on fire in an attempt to cause further destruction. The terrifying incident lasted for hours, with terrified students and staff fleeing or hiding inside the building as police tried to secure the area.

Saari had been known to authorities before the attack, as he had posted disturbing videos of himself shooting a weapon on YouTube prior to the tragedy. Although police briefly questioned him, no preventive action was taken, which later led to widespread criticism of Finland’s gun laws and police procedures. Following the massacre, the government reviewed the country’s firearm regulations and mental health monitoring systems, as this was the second major school shooting in Finland within a year, coming just after the 2007 Jokela school shooting. The event left the nation in shock, mourning the young lives lost and sparking a serious debate about youth alienation, internet radicalization, and access to firearms.

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