The Myyrmanni bombing took place on October 11, 2002, in

Myyrmäki Myyrmäki (; ; ) is a district and major region of the municipality of Vantaa, Finland. The district has an area of and a population of about 17,000, making it the most populous district in Vantaa. It is home to Myyrmanni, a large shopping com ...

Vantaa Vantaa (; , ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the north of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population of Vantaa is approximately . It is the most populous municipality in Finland. Vantaa is part of the Helsinki Metropoli ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, in

Greater Helsinki Helsinki metropolitan area (, ) or Greater Helsinki (, ) is the metropolitan area around Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It also includes the smaller Helsinki capital region, capital region. The terms Helsinki metropolitan area, Greater H ...

, at the

Myyrmanni Myyrmanni is a shopping center in the Myyrmäki suburb of Vantaa, Finland. The center was built in the early 1990s and has over 90 stores and 1,100 parking spaces. The main tenants of the shopping center include K-Citymarket, Prisma, Tokmanni, ...

shopping mall A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a large indoor shopping center, usually Anchor tenant, anchored by department stores. The term ''mall'' originally meant pedestrian zone, a pedestrian promenade with shops along it, but in the late 1960s, i ...

. A bomb was hidden in a backpack, which exploded in the central square of the shopping center on top of a metal waste container, located in the center of the square, at 19:36. Five people were instantly killed, including the bomber. The waste container was shattered, and fragments of the structure increased the amount of shrapnel and the devastation. The explosion ruined 400 m² of the shopping center, carved a 10-cm deep crater in the floor where the waste container had stood and blew the glass dome over the square up and outwards from the mall. In total seven died, including two teenagers and a seven-year-old. 159 were injured, including 10 children. 66 victims required hospitalization with the remainder treated and released at the scene. The bombing took place during the pre-weekend shopping surge late on a Friday afternoon, with 1,000–2,000 people in the shopping center, including many children who had come to see a clown performance.

Details

The bomb carrier was Petri Erkki Tapio Gerdt (April 17, 1983 – October 11, 2002), a 19-year-old

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

student at the Espoo-Vantaa Institute of Technology ( EVTEK). Described as quiet and somewhat withdrawn, Gerdt was an amateur bomb-maker with no known close friends. He participated in basketball and had no prior criminal record. Gerdt died in the explosion he caused. He was also an active member of ''Kotikemia'' (lit. " home chemistry"), an online forum for amateur chemists. The moderator of Kotikemia was acquitted of responsibility in court. The explosive device was likely constructed in Gerdt's apartment. It was a 1.5 liter plastic bottle that contained

ammonium nitrate Ammonium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula . It is a white crystalline salt consisting of ions of ammonium and nitrate. It is highly soluble in water and hygroscopic as a solid, but does not form hydrates. It is predominantly us ...

and

nitromethane Nitromethane, sometimes shortened to simply "nitro", is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest organic nitro compound. It is a polar liquid commonly used as a solvent in a variety of industrial applications such as in ...

with

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

pellets and weighed about . Investigations revealed that some kind of

timer A timer or countdown timer is a type of clock that starts from a specified time duration and stops upon reaching 00:00. It can also usually be stopped manually before the whole duration has elapsed. An example of a simple timer is an hourglass ...

was also used. Kotikemia was shut down by the authorities following the bombing.

Investigation

The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation investigated the event as six accounts of murder, one account of aggravated criminal mischief and one account of an explosives offence. The case was closed in January 2003 without any indictments as Gerdt was the sole suspect. Gerdt's motive for the bombing was not ascertained during the investigation. There was no evidence found that Gerdt had links to any outside groups or to any international terrorist organizations.

Aftermath

On October 15, 2002, Finland observed a

national day of mourning A national day of mourning is a day, or one of several days, marked by mourning and memorial activities observed among the majority of a country's populace. They are designated by the national government. Such days include those marking the deat ...

in response to the tragic events. Government buildings were closed, a moment of silence was observed in Parliament, and flags across the country were flown at

half-staff Half-mast or half-staff (American English) refers to a flag flying below the summit of a ship mast, a pole on land, or a pole on a building. In many countries this is seen as a symbol of respect, mourning, distress, or, in some cases, a sal ...

to honor the victims. The shopping center was closed for repairs for nearly three weeks before re-opening later in October. The bombing was especially shocking for Finland and the other

Nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...

, where these types of attacks are extremely rare.

Legacy

Petri Gerdt's father, Armas, wrote the book ''Petrin matka Myyrmanniin'' (''Petri's Road to Myyrmanni'') about the incident.

References

External links

Petrin matka Myyrmanniin
Suomalainen.com bookstore {{Coord, 60, 15, 37, N, 24, 51, 12, E, type:event, display=title Vantaa Shopping mall bombings in Europe Murder–suicides in Finland Mass murder in 2002 2002 murders in Finland October 2002 in Europe October 2002 crimes in Europe 2002 building bombings 21st-century mass murder in Finland Terrorist incidents in Finland Terrorist incidents in Europe in 2002 Suicide bombings in 2002 Suicide bombings in Europe History of Uusimaa