The 23-year-old defendant (left) and her defence counsel in a courtroom at the District Court of Ostrobothnia in Vaasa on Monday, 27 May 2024. The defendant is accused of preparing several aggravated offences over a plan to carry out a school shooting in Isokyrö, Ostrobothnia, in March, a plan she did not abandon until arriving armed at the school. (Elena Mikkilä – Str / Lehtikuva)
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A 23-YEAR-OLD WOMAN stands accused of planning a school shooting for two years in a trial that got underway at the District Court of Ostrobothnia in Vaasa on Monday, 27 May.
The woman has been charged with several counts of preparation of an aggravated offence against life or health over what the prosecution painted as a fully fledged-out plan to carry out a school shooting in Isokyrö, Ostrobothnia, in mid-March.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, the prosecution pointed out on in the opening arguments that the suspect had purchased a pistol, searched for information on past school shootings, selected her target, and shot videos to tell about her motives and world view. One of videos was shot only moments before she drove up to the school, armed with the handgun, seven loaded magazines, 190 bullets, a gun belt, a speedloader, earmuffs and a petrol bomb.
She did not abandon the plan until arriving at the school and determining that the pupils were too young to be a suitable target.
Helsingin Sanomat on Monday also reported that surveillance camera footage shows the woman walking from the school parking lot toward the main entrance at 10.52am on a Tuesday in March. She was captured by the cameras again eight minutes later, still walking in the school yard.
The prosecution is demanding that the suspect be sentenced to up to seven years in prison and be stripped of her military rank. She should also be ordered to undergo a psychological examination.
The defence largely did not dispute the narrative but emphasised that the defendant abandoned the plan voluntarily after seeing the pupils and receiving a phone call from a family member. The defendant, they added, had begun questioning the plan earlier in March.
The charges of preparing an aggravated offence against life or death should consequently be dropped, they argued.
Police were notified of her intentions as she was already at the school by a person who followed her on social media, after they had seen the video she posted on what was to be the day of the shooting. The woman was taken into police custody shortly before 1pm as she was returning home from the school.
“If she had squeezed the trigger, she would’ve had the time to do all sorts of things at the school,” the prosecution noted.
While the woman had acquired the pistol legally for recreational shooting, the prosecution argued that the acquisition was made specifically with the plan in mind. The prosecution also drew parallel between the case and previous school shootings, identifying a feeling of being wronged and idolisation of violence as common underlying factors.
“A person’s mind changes so that they think this is a way to start a discussion. In reality the victims are randomly chosen pupils who went to school in the morning. They got nothing to do with the big question that humanity is doomed except for in the perpetrator’s mind,” they characterised.
The prosecution drew attention to a number of features of the videos and writings published by the woman, including her remark she made on the video that she would be pleased if she managed to “remove a few TikTokers”.
“This kind of message is similar to what we’ve had in other school shootings,” they said. “The core issue in the trial is whether you can abandon such an act.”
The defendant had also published a lengthy manifesto to, in the view of the prosecution, spotlight what is wrong with the world and explain why people carry out school shootings. She, for example, professed her hatred for superficial and useless people and criticised consumerism, selfishness and individualism for destroying the environment.
“Not many would be worth saving if it came to that. I tried to like people, but then I realised I had no reason to,” she wrote.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
