Police: Shooter killed classmates, friends

KAUHAJOKI, Finland, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The masked gunman responsible for 10 deaths at a vocational college in Finland killed classmates and friends "in cold blood," local police said.

Students who escaped from the classroom where the massacre occurred Tuesday told police the gunman, Matti Saari, shot and killed friends before turning the gun on himself, Helsingin Sanomat reported Thursday.

"He set off with killing in mind and what we have heard confirms this. He carried out his deed in cold blood and shot and killed classmates that he knew well," said Chief Inspector Jari Neulaniemi, who is in charge of the investigation of the shooting on the campus in Kauhajoki in western Finland.

After the shooting Saari sprayed the classroom floor with fluid that smelled like gasoline and ignited it, witnesses told police. One of the 10 victims died of carbon monoxide poisoning, police said, and several bodies were burned.

Police said evidence so far indicated Saari acted alone.