...
Hannu didn’t tell her new interlocutor much about himself, just lying his age one year down and mentioned place of residence vaguely. The interlocutor said she was a girl and lived alone. Right from the beginning, the talk was only about the plan. It was important to both that the other was serious.
Hannu wrote: I hope that you are not a troll or anything like that because I am serious and you are really talking to the future masseuse, hopefully I am talking to one too. It would be great to be able to accomplish this.
The girl replied: You are right, working together is really good for motivation. Even though, to put it mildly, I am unstable and over-emotional in normal life, I am capable to cold-nervedly carry out some pre-arranged plan. By the way, what was the purpose of having no prior criminal history?
...
He wanted to wear trench coats and “as is tradition” combat boots, but they could not agree on how the coats would be reacted to in schools. In some countries, such things are banned, the girl remembered reading.
The attack on the University of Helsinki was the girl's idea, she wrote about it in her second e-mail. It would be easy to carry the bombs into the lecture halls without anyone noticing. Neither had ever visited the campus buildings, but Hannu thought the idea was good.
If, for example, bombs are placed evenly around the dining room, I guess even more than 100 dead when they explode.
In the massage itself, it would be great to have hostages after the actual strike, you could follow the shit storm before the execution & suicide of the hostages.. it would probably be a fairly watched event worldwide if we kept hostages for few hours, he wrote.
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The girl took the idea further. She wrote that they would force the police to sign a contract promising that they would be allowed to follow the media. Hostages could be forced to reveal a password to the university’s wireless internet.
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The girl said she had in possession various chemicals and that she had tried to order mercury that could be doused into university class rooms. Mercury poisoning kills slowly.
The plans grew wilder. The duo took turns proposing a nightclub, a movie theater, an anime event, music festivals and Independence Day Reception. There was talk of gas strikes, napalm, arson, sleeping pills, and hijacking.
...
The meeting with the girl was canceled many times. The girl's thoughts on the act also varied, sometimes she was in, sometimes she was doing better.
On January 14, 2014, Hannu took his gear with him and boarded the night train. Hannu and the girl ended up going with the original plan. On New Year's Eve, Hannu had photographed pictures of him for his media package wearing an equipment vest and wrote a text in which he said to be more excited about the meeting than the carnage. He had also written a list of the types of people he hated.
At the Helsinki Railway Station, Hannu received a text message from the girl telling of her characteristics: a white jacket, pink gloves and a beanie. Hannu recognized her immediately. They did not introduce themselves, but engaged in small talk, and went to eat breads at the station cafeteria.
The girl was quiet. Hannu suggested visiting [an alcohol store] and they got long drinks and rum from Kamppi. Then they took a train to the girl's apartment in Korso. Only there did Hannu find out the girl's name. He saw it in a letter from [The Social Insurance Institution] lying on the table. Nita-Minttu Tirkkonen was on a temporary sickness pension. She had studied sociology at the University of Joensuu, but had dropped out of school.
The apartment was messy and stale. The conversation didn't go anywhere, neither was good at chatting. Hannu mostly watched the TV, Tirkkonen sat at the computer. Hannu saw that she was writing messages for the Suomi24.fi forum, and he also saw the nickname. He didn’t ask about it much, not about thoughts, not about anything else in life. Tirkkonen was better known on Suomi24.fi. She had written thousands of posts there since 2010. In them, she said, a few nicknames writing at the Transpersons Forum had ruined her life, one in particular, apparently the one she was talking about as her ex.
She accused a doctor who had interrupted her sex correction surgery for ending up on a sickness pension. Who is responsible in such a situation?? she wrote to Suomi24.fi in April 2013.
And answered herself on several occasions: The opinion that a victim of brutal, prolonged, and systematic mental violence has the right to kill her tormentor is not criminal.
The posts were deleted by the administrator as they were violent and threatening. Tirkkonen had been banned from the trans forum a couple years earlier because she had broken all the rules and terrorized other users. She had sent the moderators a death threat, after which they wondered if the police should be informed. That was never done.
One night, Tirkkonen told Hannu that she had threatened to [shoot up] her own high school in Lauritsala six years earlier. She had written an article in Wikipedia praising the Jokela shooting and warning that it would not be the last one. She also showed a news article on the subject. Tirkkonen's threat was the first in Finland to be sentenced: a fine of 240 euros.
...
The time in Vantaa was not glamorous. Hannu slept on the floor on top of his hoodie, during the day they went to Korso for pizza. A couple of evenings they came back via [alcohol store], it was easier to talk when drunk. There was talk of Columbine and other violent crimes. There was some browsing of Spreekillers.ch, which ranks shootings by victim count.
The date of the strike was agreed to be four days away.
On the second or third day, it was the time for what had been together written for so long: a visit to the University of Helsinki. Tirkkonen and Hannu googled for location and space information.
They went into the main building from the side of the Senate Square; from that side the building was pictured online. If neither had known the house, they might have considered the other, newer side of the block, where most of the lectures are held.
They did nothing at the university, just watched. Stayed for five minutes, ten at most.
Gradually, sleeping on the floor began to suffice for Hannu. He wanted a decent bed and booked a room by phone at the Omenahotelli in the city center. It was part of the original plan after all. ...
The room was same as all the rooms in the Omenahotelli: red and double bedded. There was a fridge, and a telly. Hannu fetched kebabs for dinner, and together they watched a movie from [tv channel].
Tirkkonen woke up the next morning before Hannu. She pulled the curtains open. It was the day.
"Well, what now?" she asked.
Hannu muttered something about thinking and tried to present himself asleep. Tirkkonen announced that she had done her thinking. She would go buy mustard gas supplies.
Hannu laid in bed for a moment. Maybe he was really thinking about plundering the gun store, maybe not, but store wouldn't even been open. It is always closed on Mondays.
Before Tirkkonen got back, Hannu had bought a ticket for the Kemi train. He sent a text message: I'll go home to think for still. Maybe we should still plan better and get what we need in advance. I hope you can wait. I guess we have time? However, we have met now and it will be easier in the future.
...