September 24, 2008, Belfast Telegraph, Latest episode in a long line of school tragedies,

September 24, 2008, Belfast Telegraph, Latest episode in a long line of school tragedies, 524 words 

Yesterday's shooting in Finland is the latest in a bloody series.

Here are details of some of the other major shooting incidents in schools and universities around the world:

* January 1979, California, US: Teenager Brenda Spencer killed two people and wounded nine others at Cleveland Elementary School in San Diego, California.

* November 1991, Ohio, US: Gang Lu, a graduate student in physics shot dead five university employees. Two were wounded. The 28-year- old then turned his gun on himself.

* March 1996, Dunblane, Scotland: Former scout leader Thomas Hamilton burst into Dunblane Primary School, opening fire and killing 16 children and their teacher before killing himself.

* March 1998, Arkansas, US: Two boys aged 11 and 13 set off a fire alarm before killing four students and a teacher at Westside Middle School in Arkansas.

* April 1999, Colorado, US: A total of 12 students and a teacher were murdered in Littleton, Colorado, by two boys who then killed themselves in the infamous Columbine High School massacre.

* February 2002, Freising, Germany: Three people were killed by a former student who had been thrown out of trade school. The gunman then killed himself.

* April 2002, Erfurt, Germany: An expelled former pupil went on a killing spree at his school, killing 17 people, including 14 teachers, two pupils and the first policeman on the scene, before taking his own life.

* October, 2002, Arizona, US Failing University of Arizona Nursing College student Robert Flores, 40, killed a female instructor in her office.

Minutes later, armed with five guns, the Gulf War veteran entered one of his nursing classrooms and killed two more instructors before killing himself.

* October 2006, Pennsylvania, US: Charles Roberts killed five girls in a rural Amish school.

The 32-year-old milk truck driver took over the one-room school, sent the adults and boys out and shot the 10 remaining girls before turning the gun on himself.

* April 2007, Virginia, US: Gunman Seung-Hui Cho opened fire at Virginia Tech university, killing 32 people.

* November 2007, Tuusula, Finland Pekka-Eric Auvinen opened fire at random killing eight students and staff.

* February 2008, DeKalb, Illinois: Former student Steven Kazmierczak opened fire on a science class killing six students. He then turned his weapon on himself himself at Northern Illinois University.