Student stabs three girls in Finland school attack
The suspect was arrested shortly after the attack in Pirkkala, south-west Finland, police superintendent Jari Kinnunen said. PHOTO: AFP
HELSINKI - A male student stabbed three girls under the age of 15 at a school in Finland on May 20, after distributing a manifesto saying he wanted to attack girls, police said.
The girls did not sustain life-threatening injuries and the suspect was arrested shortly after the attack in Pirkkala, south-west Finland, police superintendent Jari Kinnunen told reporters.
He would not comment on the attacker's motive, but said police had 'no reason to doubt' he was the author of a manifesto sent to several media outlets.
'There are indications in the manifesto that there is a deliberate selection of girls or women,' Mr Kinnunen said, adding that the injured girls were 'understood to be from the same school'.
Police would not comment on whether the suspect knew his victims or how he selected them.
They also did not provide details about the girls' injuries or the weapon used in the attack, but said they were investigating it as attempted murder.
Public broadcaster YLE said one victim was stabbed in the neck, another in the hand and a third in the waist.
Media have identified the suspect as a 16-year-old, but police would confirm only he was 'a boy' at the school under the age of 18.
The Vahajarvi primary and middle school in Pirkkala has around 1,250 students aged around six to 15.
Something 'exciting'
A video of the attack was reportedly circulating online, but Mr Kinnunen said police had not yet determined if it was authentic.
YLE said the video showed a person in dark clothes with their face covered, moving around the school premises and attacking students.
At the end of the video, there is a scuffle and shouting is heard, it said.
Several Finnish media outlets meanwhile said they had received the manifesto.
YLE said that it described the reasons for his attack and that he planned to use a knife.
It quoted the author as saying he wanted to do something 'significant' and 'exciting', with the aim of going to prison for two to four years.
YLE also said the author claimed to have no friends and did not want any, and had planned the attack for about six months.
Police said they were alerted to the attack at 10.42am (3.42pm Singapore time), and the suspect was arrested at a market square near the school eight minutes later.
Kinnunen said he was not known to police before the attack. AFP
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
4 Singaporean tourists in private-hire car injured in accident near Genting
Four Singaporean tourists were injured in an accident near Malaysia's Genting Highlands on June 8, with the driver of the pick-up that collided with their car arrested after allegedly fleeing the scene. The accident happened around 4.50pm at the Pahang section of Jalan Genting Permai towards the middle of the Genting hills, reported Malaysian daily China Press. The Singaporeans were being driven in a private-hire Myvi which collided with a pick-up driven by a man described as a non-Malaysian. The pick-up also ferried three other passengers. In photos from China Press, the right side of the grey Myvi's front bumper and headlamp can be seen badly damaged while the car is parked on a grass patch next to the road. At least two of the tourists can be seen requiring assistance with neck or leg braces. The Myvi driver escaped without harm, China Press reported. The driver of the Toyota pick-up had driven away from the location of the accident, in an apparent attempt to escape, according to the report. But local police tracked him down and arrested him later. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
What to know about the immigration protests in Los Angeles
The National Guard, police and protesters stand off outside of a downtown jail in Los Angeles on June 8. PHOTO: AFP Los Angeles police officers arrest a person during protests near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on June 8. PHOTO: EPA-EFE Protesters are blanketed in smoke along Alondra Boulevard during a standoff with law enforcement in the Los Angeles County city of Compton. PHOTO: REUTERS Demonstrators kneel with their hands raised in front of Los Angeles Metro Police during a protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 8. PHOTO: REUTERS What to know about the immigration protests in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES - The first of at least 2,000 National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on June 8 morning, ordered in by President Donald Trump to deal with protests against workplace immigration raids after two days of unrest. Any demonstration that got in the way of immigration officials would be considered a 'form of rebellion,' Mr Trump said in his order, issued June 7. The dispatch of troops was an extraordinary escalation that put Los Angeles squarely at the centre of tensions over his administration's immigration crackdown. An expert said it was the first time since 1965 that a president had bypassed a state governor to activate that state's National Guard force for law enforcement or civil unrest purposes. Governor Gavin Newsom of California called Mr Trump's order 'purposefully inflammatory'. He said there was no shortage of law enforcement resources to deal with the protests, and that the federal government was sending the troops because it wanted 'a spectacle'. Protests broke out in Los Angeles on June 6 against a series of raids that appeared to be part of a new phase of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, in which officials say they will focus increasingly on workplaces. Protesters continued demonstrating downtown and in nearby cities on June 7 as law enforcement officers made arrests and in some cases used crowd-control munitions, tear gas and flash-bang grenades against the protesters. Hundreds of National Guard troops had arrived in Los Angeles by June 8 afternoon, and protests flared up again in the city's downtown. Here's what to know: How have the protests developed? The demonstrations began on June 6 after camouflage-clad federal agents began combing the garment district in Los Angeles in search of people suspected of being immigrants in the country without legal permission. The raid, which spread alarm among workers in the city, incited chaotic scenes between protesters, who chanted and threw eggs, and law enforcement officers, who fired pepper spray and crowd-control munitions. Demonstrations continued on June 7, both downtown and in the greater Los Angeles area, including the largely Latino and working-class city of Paramount, about 24km to the south. Protests there were some of the most volatile in the region, with law enforcement officers using flash-bang grenades and firing crowd-control munitions. A firework sent by protesters explodes near by the Los Angeles Sheriff Department officers during immigration protest in Paramount, California, on June 7. PHOTO: AFP Mr Bill Essayli, the Trump administration's top law enforcement official in Southern California, said more than 100 people were arrested on June 6 and at least 20 more were arrested on June 7, mostly in Paramount. A Department of Homeland Security official added Sunday that US officials had arrested eight people in Paramount on June 7 on federal obstruction charges. Two of the eight were minors and have been released from custody, the official said. The streets of Los Angeles were largely quiet on the morning of June 8 as the first National Guard troops began to arrive downtown at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, where the Los Angeles Police Department had detained a number of protesters on June 7. By early afternoon on June 8, hundreds of demonstrators outside the detention centre were facing off with federal law-enforcement officials in riot gear. The officials – including from DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement – fired canisters of tear gas into the crowd. National Guard troops were also gathered in Paramount, near a Home Depot where protesters had clashed with agents on June 7. Who calls in the national guard? The National Guard is the only branch of the military that can be deployed both by state governors and by the president. Governors almost always control deployment in their states. The Guard operates similarly to the Army Reserve force. Most of its members do not serve full time. They generally hold civilian jobs and attend regular training sessions, and are called into active service only when needed. The National Guard is most often called upon during extreme weather events like hurricanes, floods and wildfires. Troops have sometimes been used to quell civil disturbances at the state governor's request. The National Guard is the only branch of the military that can be deployed both by state governors and by the president. PHOTO: AFP One example was in 1992, when Governor Pete Wilson of California asked President George H.W. Bush to deploy the Guard after riots erupted in Los Angeles over the acquittal of four white police officers in the beating of Mr Rodney King, a black man. Before Mr Trump's move, the last time a president activated a state's National Guard troops for such a purpose without being asked to do so by the state's governor was in 1965, according to Ms Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Centre for Justice, an independent law and policy organization. On that occasion, she said, President Lyndon B. Johnson used troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Alabama. What have officials said? Trump administration officials have criticised the state's political leadership over their handling of the protests, while California's Democratic leaders blasted Mr Trump's order as unnecessary and an inappropriate use of power. Ms Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement on the night of June 7 that Mr Trump was deploying the National Guard in response to 'violent mobs' that she said had attacked federal law enforcement and immigration agents. The 2,000 troops would 'address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,' she said. A protester walks through smoke from flash-bang smoke grenades fired by federal agents near a Home Depot in Paramount, California, on June 7. PHOTO: EPA-EFE Mr Trump described the demonstrations, which have been largely peaceful, as 'insurrectionist' on social media on June 8. He did not rule out invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy the US military domestically, and told reporters that there were 'violent people' at the protests and that 'we're not going to let them get away with it'. State and local authorities in California and Los Angeles County have not indicated any need for federal assistance. State attorney general Rob Bonta said on social media that local law enforcement 'have the resources they need to meet the moment' and that Mr Trump's order was 'counterproductive'. Governor Newsom called the president's order 'purposefully inflammatory' and said that Trump had activated the National Guard only because his administration wanted 'a spectacle.' Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles said the National Guard's presence would 'not be helpful'. She said the city was capable of handling protests, adding that she had been in contact with White House officials and Mr Tom Homan, Mr Trump's 'border czar'. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Runaway zebra recaptured in US' Tennessee County
A runaway zebra is airlifted by helicopter back to its owner following its capture after a week on the loose, in Rutherford County, Tennessee, US on June 8, 2025. PHOTO: REUTERS RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tennessee - The search for a runaway pet zebra that had evaded capture for nearly a week in Rutherford County, Tennessee, came to an end. The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, which had been searching for the animal that residents named Ed, said in a statement on June 8 that the zebra had been recaptured and returned to its owner. In a video the sheriff's office posted on Facebook, the zebra's head and legs can be seen dangling from inside a net as it spun in the sky while being airlifted by a yellow helicopter. Authorities said that the intrepid zebra was found in a pasture near Interstate 24. The owner of the zebra – whose identity has not been released – got the animal May 30 and had it for less than a day before it escaped the next morning, the sheriff's office said in an earlier statement. How the zebra escaped or why the man owned it was still not immediately clear, but dispatchers received a report May 31 that a zebra had been spotted darting in traffic on Interstate 24. 'This is the first zebra to escape in Rutherford County as far as I know in the 43 years I lived here,' Ms Lisa Marchesoni, a spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, said on June 8. The zebra had escaped into a wooded area and disappeared until being spotted on June 5, authorities said. On June 6, a police drone spotted the zebra dashing through a field near Christiana, a community about 40 miles (64km) south of Nashville. Drivers on Interstate 24 also saw him scamper across east and westbound lanes on June 7, the sheriff's office said. On the morning of June 8, deputies worked with the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to find the zebra, though it was not immediately clear how authorities captured it. With several sightings of the zebra in the area, social media lit up with memes and images generated by artificial intelligence of the animal, including one that dressed him in a Middle Tennessee State University hat and T-shirt. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
