Suicide note by Finland gunman found

Police in Finland have found a suicide note written by an 18-year-old student shortly before he went on a gun rampage at his school and killed eight people.

Pekka-Eric Auvinen said goodbye to his family and explained his hatred towards society, the police said.

Investigators said Auvinen appeared bent on causing maximum bloodshed when he opened fire with a pistol at Jokela High School on Wednesday morning, killing the headmistress, a nurse and six fellow pupils.

"Auvinen had 500 cartridges on him. Thus far 69 cartridge cases were found in the school building," a police spokesman said, adding that all of the dead had been shot several times.

Detective Superintendent Tero Haapala said Auvinen had apparently selected his victims at random.
"There's nothing that links him with the victims except that they attended the same school," he told the Associated Press news agency.