A 16-year-old suspect has been taken into custody after a knife attack on female students at a school in southern Finland
Three schoolgirls have been injured in a stabbing rampage at a school in the southern Finnish town of Pirkkala. The attack was allegedly carried out by a fellow student, who has been taken into custody.
The incident unfolded early Tuesday, when the suspect, 16, dressed in black, randomly attacked female students in the hallway of the Vahajarvi school in Pirkkala, around 180km (110 miles) north of Helsinki, which has around 1,200 children ranging from preschool age to ninth grade.
The suspect had a camera attached to his body and streamed his actions online, with disturbing footage of the chaotic attack making the rounds on social media.
The suspect was taken into custody without incident outside the school within minutes of the attack, local police said in a statement. A bladed weapon was seized from the alleged attacker.
Police said the victims’ injuries were not considered life-threatening. One of the girls sustained a knife wound to her neck, another was stabbed in the waist, and the third in the hand.
Law enforcement said they have been investigating a written manifesto supposedly published by the suspect ahead of the attack, but did not elaborate on the contents.
Local media reports suggest that the manifesto described the suspect’s intention to attack female students and stated that he had no friends and sought to gain fame through violence. The suspect also said he planned to surrender to police after the attack.
The suspect was reportedly planning the attack for around six months and used ChatGPT in preparation, for reasons that are not immediately clear.
A number of top officials have reacted to the attack. Education Minister Anders Adlercreutz took to X, saying: “all violence in schools is unequivocally condemnable.”
