Crime & Safety
Finland Stabbing: 2 Dead, 6 Hurt, Police Shoot Suspect
BREAKING: Security is being heightened across the country after the stabbings, said Finland interior minister Paula Risikko.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK — Two people are dead and six were hurt in stabbings in Turku, Finland, police said, and officers shot a suspect in a leg and detained him Friday. Authorities were searching for more potential suspects.
Security is being heightened across the country after the stabbings, said Finland interior minister Paula Risikko.
A suspect who was shot in the thigh was detained and being treated at a hospital. Turku is about 90 miles west of the capital, Helsinki.
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Several people were seen lying on the ground in Puutori square in central Turku, Finnish broadcaster YLE said. On Twitter, police urged people to avoid that part of Turku. (For more information on this and other Across America stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)
Tabloid Ilta-Sanomat said one man and five women were injured, and that a woman with stroller was attacked by a man with a large knife.
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The government was closely monitoring the ongoing police operation, Prime Minister Juha Sipila said.
Witness Laura Laine told broadcaster YLE that she stood about 65 feet from where the stabbing took place.
"We heard that a young woman was screaming. We saw a man on the square and a knife glittered. He was waving it in the air. I understood that he had stabbed someone," Laine was quoted as saying.
Vanessa Deggins, an American who is studying business in one of Turku's three universities, said she didn't see the actual attack, but heard sirens going past.
"Police have told us not to go to the city center so we are in this coffee shop a few blocks away from the city center," she said.
"This is a safe country by American standards. I have gone home alone at 2-3 a.m. ... I feel safe. This is a safe country."
Authorities haven't said whether the incident is terrorism related.
This is a developing story. Hit refresh for updates.
By JAN M. OLSEN, Associated Press
Photo credit: Lehtikuva via AP; Facebook via AP
