One Dead and Ten Injured In Sword Attack At Finnish School

At least one person has died and another ten have been injured in Kuopio, eastern Finland after a suspect brought a sword to a local college and began attacking people.

Local police say they were called to the scene at around 12:29 in the afternoon and were able to subdue the suspect after discharging their firearms less than ten minutes later, Finnish broadcaster YLE reports.

Among the injured are a police officer and the suspect himself who is said to be a native-born Finnish citizen and is also said to have possessed a firearm at the time of the attack.

Hospital Medical Director Heikki Miettinen noted that while the victims suffer from various kinds of cuts, none are in life-threatening condition and are expected to make a full recovery.

So far no motive has been explained in regards to the attack, but the BBC has claimed that the first person to be attacked by the suspect was a teacher at the college. The broadcaster added that several students threw chairs at the suspect as he pursued the teacher.

Prime Minister Antti Rinne commented on the attack on Twitter stating, “The violence at Savo Vocational College in Kuopio is shocking and completely unacceptable. I have discussed with the Director-General of Police and the government is monitoring the situation closely.”

Two Dead After Sweden ‘Problem School’ Sword Attack: Pictures Of Killer Emerge https://t.co/ilaoyGwIJR pic.twitter.com/W6S5BNl65J

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 22, 2015

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö’s office also expressed condolences saying he gave “his deepest condolences to the relatives of the deceased. To the other victims, the president hopes to have the strength to recover.”

Ther attack comes just over two years since another mass stabbing attack in the city of Turku that saw a failed asylum seeker from Morocco go on a stabbing spree that led to two deaths and eight others injured.

Abderrahman Bouanane, who is also alleged to have been sympathetic to the Islamic State terror group, was sentenced in 2018 to life in prison after being found guilty of two counts of murder and eight counts of attempted murder.

The attack also echoes a school attack that took place in neighbouring Sweden in 2015 that saw two killed when 21-year-old Anton Lundin Pettersson brought a sword to a school in Trollhättan and began to attack students and teachers.