Finnish Gunman’s Note: ‘I Wanted To Murder As Many As Possible’

“I have always wanted to murder as many people as possible.”

That’s just one of the chillingly cryptic lines police have revealed from the note left by Matti Saari, the student who went on a shooting rampage at his school in Finland on Tuesday. It may be the closest we ever come to finding out the motive behind the terrible crime, which left 11 people – including the gunman – dead and two others wounded.

We know a bit more about what happened at the vocational college in Kauhajoki, a city about 300 kilometres from Helsinki. Police say the young man with the death wish dressed up in black, donned a hood, and went into a classroom where an exam was in progress.

As panicked students tried to flee, he shot them down in cold blood, killing eight women and two men. All the female victims and one of the males were students, while another victim was a male teacher. The 22-year-old gunman then started a fire, inflicting additional indignities on  his victims, leaving many of the bodies badly burned.

Saari ended his rampage as so many of these spree killers do, saving his final bullet for himself.

The revelation that the murderer had obtained a legal permit for the weapon has sparked a new wave of soul searching about firearm laws in the country. Finland has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the world, but also one of the lowest gun crime rates.

Saari had put up several menacing videos on YouTube, showing him practicing for the massacre, and they caught the attention of police.

The news that authorities had questioned him the day before the killings but could find nothing to charge him with has also created a firestorm, leading many to believe the tragedy could have been prevented.

He received a permit for the .22 calibre handgun used in the crime in August. “With this weapon and plenty of ammunition, he came into the school yesterday morning and he also had a largish bag which apparently had flammable liquids or something to start fires,” explains police spokesman Urpo Lintula.

Cops arrived at the scene within 10 minutes of the incident and were shot at by Saari, but officials say they didn’t shoot back.

On Wednesday, authorities revealed part of the contents of Saari’s note, explaining his desire to kill people and insisting he’d been planning the massacre for ‘years’. They attribute his motive to rage, but the truth may never really be clear.

There is one other question surrounding this bizarre case and cops are hard at work trying to answer it.

They want to know who, if anyone, was with Saari when he made his now infamous videos, who was holding the camera during his target practice rehearsal and if anyone knew what he was planning before he set off for school one last time on Tuesday morning.