Finnish stabbing spree: Police say 2 dead; suspect arrested

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Raw: Police say 2 dead in Finland stabbings A man stabbed several people in Finland's western city of Turku on Friday before police shot him in the leg and detained him, police said, adding that authorities were looking for more potential suspects. (Aug. 18)

Police in the Finnish coastal city of Turku shot and arrested one person Friday and are looking for more suspects following a stabbing spree in which two people died and six were injured.

Interior minister Seppo Kolehmainen, Finland's top police chief, said security is being stepped up across the Nordic country.

Kolehmainen said “nothing is known about the motives ... or what precisely has happened in Turku.”

The tabloid Ilta-Sanomat reports that one man and five women were injured, including a woman pushing a stroller. It quotes one witness as saying a man with a bloodied knife stabbed one woman in the back, then turned and slashed a man several times in the neck and chest.

The Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat quotes witnesses as saying three people carrying sharp weapons and baseball bats ran through the streets stabbing bystanders.

Several persons stabbed in central Turku. Police has shot at suspected perpetrator. One person is apprehendee — L-S poliisi (@L_S_poliisi) August 18, 2017

On its website, Turku police reported that the suspect was shot in the leg. They called on people to stay out of the center of the city.

Although police have not confirmed any fatalities in the incident, the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat's website posted a photograph from the scene showing numerous police near a body covered with a sheet.

Finnish broadcaster YLE says several people were seen lying on the ground in the central part of the city.

Turku, with a population of around 180,000, is located on the southwest coast of Finland, 90 miles west of Helsinki. The city dates to the 13th century and boasts a medieval fortress known as the Turku Castle.