Report: YouTube Video Predicted Finland School Shooting

Authored by Scott Goldberg on November 7, 2007 - 4:54am.

Early reports indicate that at least seven people have died in a school shooting in southern Finland, though a Finnish journalist from the Helsinki Sanomat, Kari Raisenen, told Sky News the police had yet to announce the official toll. The shooting occurred “hours” after a YouTube video predicting a “massacre” was posted online, Sky News reports.

(Photo by: Reuters/Mikko Stig/Lehtikuva)

"We know a student started shooting around midday and there's chaos,” Raisenen was quoted as saying in Sky News’s article. “Nobody knows exactly what's happening inside. Some say the principal is dead, but that's unconfirmed."

The video, which Sky News says is titled “Jokela High School Massacre – 11/7/2007,” is no longer available on the site. According to Reuters the song on the video was the “hard-driving” Stray Bullet. The school is 40 miles from the capital of Finland, Helsinki.

Reuters reported that a witness – a teacher at the school – said the shootings were carried out by a student. "It felt unreal, a pupil I have taught myself was running towards me, screaming, a pistol in his hand."