Sello mall shooting
Encyclopedia
The Sello mall shooting occurred on the morning of 31 December 2009 shortly after 10:08 local time at the Sello
Prisma hypermarket
in 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.
. 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, framed photo of his ex-girlfriend and 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. 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.
The gun
used was a Czechoslovakian made 9mm CZ 75 pistol, manufactured in 1984 and was originally sold in Norway
where the gun went missing due to an unsolved burglary case in 1990. How it ended to Shkupolli remains unknown. The first victim, the woman found in the apartment, was killed with a Smith & Wesson
branded hunting knife
. The body had a long and deep incised wound
reaching the cervical spine. The apartment had no signs of struggle.
Ibrahim Shkupolli (1966 – 31 December 2009) was born in Mitrovica
, Kosovo
, and had resided in Finland since 1990.
He entered Finland through Norway in 1990. Shkupolli worked in a warehousing company that delivered to the Prisma hypermarket chain. Shkupolli had been married to a Kosovo Albanian woman with whom he had three children but maintained an on-off relationship with his Finnish girlfriend both before and after the marriage. In both of his former and present municipalities of residence, Mikkeli
and Espoo, restraining orders had been imposed on him after his girlfriend filed charges about his behavior and numerous threats, including one to kill her. The order imposed by the court barred him from approaching both her and her job location. It is thought that he believed she had begun a relationship with one of the supermarket staff, and that this was the motive for his crimes. He had been convicted of assault in 2001 and possession of a 7.65 mm hand gun and associated rounds of ammunition in 2003 and 9 x 18 mm cartridges in 2007 as well as possession of narcotics. He was also under investigation for being involved in a human trafficking
ring that organizes illegal immigration from the Balkans
to Finland.
These and other offenses including unlawful threats and traffic violations had led the Finnish Immigration Service to reject his application for Finnish citizenship.
His motives may have been a mixture of a grudge with his former employer Prisma, and the fact that he believed that his girlfriend had started a new relationship with a Prisma employee after breaking up with Shkupolli.
Sello
Sello is a shopping mall in the Leppävaara district of Espoo, Finland. The mall contains more than 170 shops and services including a concert hall and a library....
Prisma hypermarket
Hypermarket
In commerce, a hypermarket is a superstore combining a supermarket and a department store. The result is an expansive retail facility carrying a wide range of products under one roof, including full groceries lines and general merchandise...
in Leppävaara
Leppävaara
Leppävaara or Alberga is a district of Espoo, a city in Finland. A major traffic hub in the Greater Helsinki region, the Rantarata rail line and Kehä I, the busiest road in Finland, cross in Leppävaara. The Sello Shopping Centre is also located there...
district of Espoo
Espoo
Espoo is the second largest city and municipality in Finland. The population of the city of Espoo is . It is part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area along with the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, and Kauniainen. Espoo shares its eastern border with Helsinki and Vantaa, while enclosing Kauniainen....
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
. 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
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
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.
Shooting
The shooting began when the gunman entered the Prisma hypermarket and began firing with a 9mm handgunHandgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
. 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, framed photo of his ex-girlfriend and 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. 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.
The gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
used was a Czechoslovakian made 9mm CZ 75 pistol, manufactured in 1984 and was originally sold in Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
where the gun went missing due to an unsolved burglary case in 1990. How it ended to Shkupolli remains unknown. The first victim, the woman found in the apartment, was killed with a Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
branded hunting knife
Hunting knife
A hunting knife is a knife used during hunting for preparing the game to be used as food: skinning the animal and cutting up the meat. It is different from the Hunting dagger which was traditionally used to kill wild game....
. The body had a long and deep incised wound
Wound
A wound is a type of injury in which skin is torn, cut or punctured , or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion . In pathology, it specifically refers to a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin.-Open:...
reaching the cervical spine. The apartment had no signs of struggle.
Shooter
The shooter, grocerGrocer
A grocer is a bulk seller of food. Beginning as early as the 14th century, a grocer was a dealer in comestible dry goods such as spices, pepper, sugar, and cocoa, tea and coffee...
Ibrahim Shkupolli (1966 – 31 December 2009) was born in Mitrovica
Kosovska Mitrovica
Kosovska Mitrovica , is a city and municipality in northern Kosovo. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous district....
, Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, and had resided in Finland since 1990.
He entered Finland through Norway in 1990. Shkupolli worked in a warehousing company that delivered to the Prisma hypermarket chain. Shkupolli had been married to a Kosovo Albanian woman with whom he had three children but maintained an on-off relationship with his Finnish girlfriend both before and after the marriage. In both of his former and present municipalities of residence, Mikkeli
Mikkeli
Mikkeli is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Southern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water...
and Espoo, restraining orders had been imposed on him after his girlfriend filed charges about his behavior and numerous threats, including one to kill her. The order imposed by the court barred him from approaching both her and her job location. It is thought that he believed she had begun a relationship with one of the supermarket staff, and that this was the motive for his crimes. He had been convicted of assault in 2001 and possession of a 7.65 mm hand gun and associated rounds of ammunition in 2003 and 9 x 18 mm cartridges in 2007 as well as possession of narcotics. He was also under investigation for being involved in a human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
ring that organizes illegal immigration from the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
to Finland.
These and other offenses including unlawful threats and traffic violations had led the Finnish Immigration Service to reject his application for Finnish citizenship.
His motives may have been a mixture of a grudge with his former employer Prisma, and the fact that he believed that his girlfriend had started a new relationship with a Prisma employee after breaking up with Shkupolli.
See also
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- Westroads Mall shootingWestroads Mall shootingThe Westroads Mall shooting was a murder-suicide that occurred on Wednesday, December 5, 2007, at the Von Maur department store in the Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Nineteen-year-old Robert A. Hawkins killed nine people and wounded four, two of them critically...
- Finnish school shooting
- Strathfield massacreStrathfield MassacreThe Strathfield massacre was a shooting rampage in Sydney, Australia on Saturday, 17 August 1991. The shooter was Wade Frankum, who killed himself as police arrived at the scene. The incident left eight dead and six wounded.-Perpetrator:...
- Myyrmanni bombingMyyrmanni bombingThe Myyrmanni bombing took place on October 11, 2002, in Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland, in Greater Helsinki, at the Myyrmanni shopping mall. The bomb killed seven, including two teenagers, a 7-year-old child and the presumed bomber. 166 people were injured, including 10 children. 66 victims required...
- Sanna SillanpääSanna SillanpääSanna Riitta Liisa Sillanpää is a Finnish woman, who shot three men to death with a rented pistol on 21 February 1999 in a shooting club on Albertinkatu, Helsinki, and wounded another man, who received lifetime injuries. One man present was not harmed...
- Sylvia SeegristSylvia SeegristSylvia Wynanda Seegrist is an American woman who on October 30, 1985 opened fire at a Springfield, Pennsylvania shopping mall, killing three people and wounding seven others before being disarmed by a shopper. The individuals killed included two men and a two-year-old...