Shooting shocks Finnish school, rising toll reported

Police vehicles at a school in Kauhajoki, Finland, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008, the scene of a shooting.(AP Photo/Tuomo Rinne/LEHTIKUVA)

A police officer stands in front of a school building in Kauhajoki, Finland, the scene on a shooting Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008. (AP Photo/Santtu Hakala/LEHTIKUVA)

The suspect in the fatal shooting at a vocational school in Kauhajoki is pictured in this frame grab made from footage released to media September 23, 2008. REUTERS

HELSINKI, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- A shooting rampage shook a vocational school in northwest Finland, in which at least three people have been reportedly killed and many others wounded, local media said Tuesday.

Several people were confirmed dead and many wounded in the shooting in Kauhajoki, a small town 300 km northwest of Helsinki, said the reports.

A newest coverage by CNN said at least nine were killed in the incident and the shooter was identified as a student of the school.

A man with ski mask went into the school building before the shooting took place, CNN cited a witness as saying.

Latest reports by news agencies said the gunmen, around 20-year-old, shot himself in the head after going on rampage but was not dead. He was taken to hospital with serious wounds.

The shooting was the second one at a Finnish school in the last year. In November 2007, Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight people and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki.