Yet another shooting rampage @ Finland

Police have confirmed to YLE that a sixth person found dead in Espoo on Thursday was the perpetrator of a shooting rampage at the Sello shopping mall. Four people were shot dead at the shopping centre on Thursday. A fifth victim, an ex-girlfriend of the suspect, was found dead in a flat in Espoo.

Following the incident, police began a manhunt for the suspect, Ibrahim Shkupolli. They said he was considered armed and dangerous, and had run-ins with the police in the past.

The Helsinki District Court had sentenced Shkupolli to a 20-day fine in 2007 for firearm offence. The Espoo District Court had also sentenced Shkupolli for a firearm offence. He was also slapped with a restraining order.

The shooting was reported to police at 10.08 am. Espoo Police say three men and one woman, all employed at the Prisma grocery store at the shopping centre, were shot dead at the mall. The ex-girlfriend was also employed at Prisma. The mall was closed following the incident.

A number of police vehicles and ambulances rushed to the scene, just west of Helsinki. Crowds were standing outside the modern mall in bright, bitterly cold weather.

According to an eyewitness, one or more people were shot at the Prisma grocery store. One employee was seen lying on the floor in the upper level of the shop. A man dressed in black was seen walking toward the Citymarket grocery shop.

The director of the shopping centre says that the Prisma and Citymarket shops were immediately evacuated. A YLE reporter on the scene reported around 11.30 that the entire mall had been evacuated.

"Chaotic Situation"

An eyewitness, Kari Harjula, who was in a check-out queue at Citymarket, told YLE:

"I started to hear a lot of shouting from the outer doors of Citymarket and Sello, telling everybody to get out. The customers and employees were wondering what was going on. Soon some police ran in with riot shields and serious expressions on their faces. They yelled at everybody to get out; that the shopping centre was being evacuated. The situation was chaotic; there were a lot of police inside and outside. From a layman's point of view, it looked like a massive operation."

VR State Railways confirm that police ordered trains not to stop at the adjacent Leppävaara station. A YLE reporter said police officers had been checking passengers on local trains, including at the Ilmala and Pasila stations in Helsinki.

Finland known for shootings

Finland has been the target of two school shootings in recent years. In November 2007, eight people were killed in a school shooting in Jokela, in southern Finland. In September 2008, ten people were shot dead in another school shooting in Kauhajoki, in western Finland.

In 2002, a young man detonated a bomb killing seven people including himself at the Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, in southern Finland.

All three perpetrators were killed during the attacks.

YLE