Police baffled by bomb attack on Finnish shopping mall; 7 dead, 80 injured [targeted MacDonalds]

ap ^ | 10/13/02

[Ranger]

Sunday, October 13, 2002

HELSINKI (AP) - Police sifted through evidence Sunday to find out why a 19-year-old college student apparently built and then detonated a bomb in one of Finland's biggest shopping malls, killing himself and six others.

The bomb shattered the three-storey shopping mall Friday evening in Vantaa, 15 kilometres north of the capital, Helsinki.

The dead included a seven-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, police said. Thirty-three people were being treated in hospitals Sunday but none of them was in critical condition, officials said. In all, 80 people were injured in the blast.

The suspect, an ethnic Finn, lived in Vantaa and studied chemistry at a technical college, police said. His name was withheld pending the outcome of the investigation.

Chief Superintendent Tero Haapala of the National Bureau of Investigation would not speculate on a motive.

"We have no indication that anyone else was involved or that the suspect knew any of the injured or dead," Haapala said.

He said found material at the teen's home linked him to the explosion, but he didn't provide more details.

Police were studying closed-circuit video footage of the mall and asked the public to tell them about possible sightings of the suspect before the explosion.

"The investigation of the explosive device has proven to be very complicated," said Kimmo Himberg, a forensic scientist at the bureau of investigation.

Himberg said the bomb didn't contain military explosives, but rather gunshot pellets and metal, suggesting it was homemade.

The attack shocked this Nordic country of 5.2 million people. Finns placed flowers and lit hundreds of candles near the scene of the blast and packed a memorial service Saturday at a nearby church.

"Why did it happen at a shopping mall where there were lots of children?" asked Jarmo Elomaa, 44, who was struck by 17 pellets and shrapnel and was recovering at a hospital Sunday.

"Why just outside McDonald's where lots of families go?"

© Copyright  2002 The Canadian Press

[thedugal]

Most likely a left wing terrorist. Probably see more of them in the future. You can't spew pure vitriolic hatred of America and capitalism for eternity without some people taking it seriously. "a 19-year-old college student" - ergo a liberal...

Too all you "It was a Moslem" types even when the article clearly states it was a Finn, WAKE UP!! Yes, Moslem extremists are our #1 enemy at this time, but they are not our only enemy. It's WWII, you are in Europe with a Nazi gun shoved down you throat and you say "Damn Japs".. duh!

[texasbluebell]

One more interesting figure. There are now more moslems in Finland than Catholics, which are numbered at about 7000. And Finland was a Catholic country up till the 1600s.

link

"The exact number of Muslims in Finland is hard to estimate, with figures ranging from 10,000 to 40,000."

[texasbluebell]

Please read #17.

No one wants to jump all over any group that's innocent, but let's be realistic. The article does state "ethnic Finn" and that fits with what would be one of their immigrants.

The Moslem population of Finland is now around 4%. Trouble usually starts around that number. Take a look at France, England, and the Netherlands.

[thedugal]

Check out #17. Ethnic Finn sounds like code.

It is code. It is code for WHITE EUROPEAN FINNISH PERSON. Saying simply "a Finn" in the past would have sufficed, but today, with immigration changing the makeup of Europe, saying "a Finn" simply means a person who has Finnish citizenship (or perhaps only residency). Not only could one be a Finn without being an ethnic Finn, one could be an ethnic Finn born outside Finland. I, for example, am an ethnic Scot, but was born in the U.S. and thus do not carry a British passport. Get it ????

[MinuteGal]

Funny they knew almost immediately he's a 19 year old college student. So why no name yet? However, I'll bet he was a green anti-globalist nut case doing a copy-cat of the Dutch leader assassination, only on a larger scale.

Leni

[texasbluebell]

Get it ????

Here's what I'm saying. That we simply don't know who did the bombing. But why are people jumping all over those who are trying to be realistic? There's no need for that. (As there is no need to be rude. We're just trying to have a civil conversation here, I thought.)

Just do a google search on Finland and muslims for yourself then if you don't believe what I've posted.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Too all you "It was a Moslem" types even when the article clearly states it was a Finn, WAKE UP!! Yes, Moslem extremists are our #1 enemy at this time, but they are not our only enemy. It's WWII, you are in Europe with a Nazi gun shoved down you throat and you say "Damn Japs".. duh!

Isn't Johnny Walker Lindh an Ethnic European American fighting for Islam?

[BJungNan]

the NATIVE inhabitants are pale pasty white Nordic people.

Your racial slur is not welcome to many on here I am sure. The word is caucasian. We don't go around calling people piss yellow, muddy black do we? Just a wild guess, mind you.

[thedugal]

I am going to give you a break, because the meaning is ambiguous. In this case, the author would have to be a true clymer to use the term ethnic Finn to mean anything other than a caucasion Finn. But plenty of reporters are clymers, so who knows. The problem is, Western society is so bleeding pc, we cannot even communicate. I can't imagine a free society with a stricter set of self imposed censorship. It like living under an invisible Stalin.

[thedugal]

1 out of 150 million. Good odds.

[Thinkin' Gal]

The suspect, an ethnic Finn...

Fastest Growing Exploding Religion

[thedugal]

"fastest growing religion" isn't Islam, it is materialism.

[2sheep]

"ethnic Finn" = Muslim!

Those who the Western Communist press called "ethnic Albanians" turned out to be Iranian Muslim Jihadists, not even from Albania.  Behold the Tribulation and the devil has come down and inhabited the Muslims.  While the Church prayed for "Revival," the only revival we see is of Islamic Jihadists.  "M" is for Murder.  "M" is for Muslim.

[inflorida]

But why are people jumping all over those who are trying to be realistic?

Exactly! Sure this may be just a crazy kid but considering all of the attacks from Islam lately, it sure resembles another one of their strikes.

[2sheep]

>"fastest growing religion" isn't Islam, it is materialism.

Islam is God's way of bringing Judgment on the materialists.  See Deut. 28.

[Thinkin' Gal]

"M" is for Mohammed.

[MonroeDNA]

What the heck is an "Ethnic Finn?"

Ethnic native born Finn?

Native Finn of Ethnic persuasion?

What mumbo-jumbo is this?

[MonroeDNA]

Uh, let me just take a wild stab at it:

A Native-born (Mom and Pop gained legal entry) "Ethnic" (Uhm, not blond, blue-eyed Finn) Muslim.

Not profiling. Nope, not here.

[Robert_Paulson2]

Quick... send them Cheif MOOSE... he's the man who can get a handle on such things....

[WashingtonCollegeofLaw]

To butcher a quote by Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow, in london they have murders without the benefit of ghouls and goblins. While it is possible this kid was a muslim, its also possible he was a neo-nazi or a pro stalinist. Or maybe, just maybe he was pissed off for someother non religious reason. Everytime something gets blown up it doesnt have to be a muslim. Assumption is the muther of all F+ck ups.