Finland is in mourning following its first school massacre in which an 18 year-old student shot dead seven classmates and the principal at a local high school and then turned the weapon on himself.

Pekka-Eric Auvinen, identified as the gunman, later died in hospital from self-inflicted wounds to the head.

Over a dozen others were wounded in the shooting.

Prior to the rampage in Tuusula, about 40 miles north of Helsinki, Mr Auvinen posted a clip on popular video-sharing web site YouTube entitled “Jokela High School Massacre - 11/7/2007”.

The clip features an image of the school exploding into fragments to reveal a red-tinted frame in which Mr Auvinen points a gun at the camera. The posting has since been removed from YouTube.

Mr Auvinen’s profile on the web site reveals a number of disturbing elements including his admiration for Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, ‘Oklahoma Bomber’ Timothy McVeigh and the Columbine High School gunmen. He also had a clear obsession with firearms, featured in several of his previous postings.

Calling himself Sturmgeist89 – which means ‘storm spirit’ in German – Mr Auvinen wrote in his profile: “I, as a natural selector, will eliminate all who I see unfit, disgraces of human race and failures of natural selection. You might ask yourselves, why did I do this and what do I want? Well, most of you are too arrogant and closed-minded to understand. I am ready to die for a cause I know is right, just and true ... even if I would lose or the battle would be only remembered as evil ... I would rather fight and die than live a long and unhappy life.”

Panic-stricken students and teachers jumped out of windows to flee the gunman as he ran running down the school hall shouting, “This is the start of the revolution!” He knocked on doors and then fired through them.

“The shooter was running towards me with the pistol in his hand,” said Jokela high school history and psychology teacher Kim Kiuru. “I fled immediately. I knew that my pupils were in the classroom and the door was closed … I didn’t have any time to wait (to see) what’s going to happen.”

Students told of their terror as the nightmare unfolded. “Everyone was crying,” said Katriina Alanko. “The headmaster announced on the internal radio that we should stay there. When we could, we ran out as fast as possible.”

Another student, Vivianna Korhonen, recalled: “Someone knocked on the classroom door. They lay on the floor and stayed there for an hour and a half. We were terrified, afraid we might die.”

Other students jumped out of windows to escape the gunman. “We heard the shots and then we broke the windows and jumped out,” said Franz Andersin.

In the aftermath, five boys and two girls lay dead, as well as their principal, a middle-aged woman.

Students, teachers and local police were at a loss to explain the slaughter.

“He comes from a very normal family of four people; he has one brother,” said local police officer Jan-Olav Nyholm. “He had no problems in school.”

Describing the killings as a “great tragedy”, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said, “This is an awful day ... The shooting has deeply undermined the sense of security in society ... Nobody had expected such things.”

Finland has the third highest gun ownership rate in the world, behind the United States and Yemen. Most registered weapons in Finland are hunting rifles.

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