Sello mall shooting
| Sello mall shooting | |
|---|---|
Emergency vehicles outside Sello after the shooting
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| Location | Leppävaara, Espoo, Finland |
| Coordinates | 60°13′05″N 024°48′39″E / 60.21806°N 24.81083°ECoordinates: 60°13′05″N 024°48′39″E / 60.21806°N 24.81083°E |
| Date | 31 December 2009 c. 10:08 a.m.–11:13 a.m. (UTC+2) |
| Target | Sello Mall |
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Attack type
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Spree shooting, murder–suicide |
| Weapons |
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| Deaths | 6 (including the perpetrator) |
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Non-fatal injuries
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None |
| Perpetrator | Ibrahim Shkupolli |
The Sello mall shooting occurred on the morning of 31 December 2009 shortly after 10:08 local time at the Prisma supermarket in Sello mall, located in the Leppävaara district of Espoo, Finland. The shooting was believed to have been started after Ibrahim Shkupolli, the alleged gunman, found that his ex-girlfriend had a lover at the grocery store where she worked. Shkupolli first killed her in her apartment before heading towards the mall.
The Sello mall, which opened in 2005, is one of the largest in the Nordic region with over 170 stores. On the day of the shooting the mall contained between two and three thousand customers. Witnesses described the gunman as calm when walking out of the grocery store in the mall immediately after the shooting.
The shooting began when the gunman entered the Prisma supermarket and began firing with a 9×19mm handgun. Preliminary reports indicated four fatalities at the mall, three men and one woman. The victims, aged 27, 40, 42 and 45, were employees of Prisma. Another woman, identified as the suspect's ex-girlfriend, was found dead in an Espoo apartment in connection with the case. The ex-girlfriend was also an employee of Prisma, and the Finnish police speculated that she was the main target. It is alleged that Shkupolli killed his former girlfriend first in the apartment, and after moved on to kill her boyfriend at the shopping mall where they both worked. It is believed that her lover is one of the four victims, and that he had been shot twice in the head. The suspect, identified as 43-year-old Kosovar Albanian Ibrahim Shkupolli, was seen walking into another shop where he disappeared, sparking a major manhunt which involved police helicopters.
Later that day, Shkupolli was found dead in an apartment in Kirstinmäki, Espoo, in an apparent suicide. His apartment was completely empty except for a mattress, a framed photo of his ex-girlfriend, 14 fully loaded magazines for his gun, and a bag containing additional 273 cartridges. According to a neighbour who heard the gunshot, Shkupolli had shot himself at 11:13 a.m. The Finnish police evacuated and cordoned off the shopping centre, and blocked off a nearby railway station. Emergency services arrived on the scene including dozens of ambulances and several fire engines.
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Wikipedia