A 22-year-old gun man armed with a .22 calibre handgun and petrol bombs opened fire on class mates at a vocational college, killing 10 people and burning their bodies before shooting himself fatally in the head. At least two other people were wounded.
The massacre in the small town of Kauhajoki, 290km northwest of Helsinki, was Finland's second school shooting in less than a year and renewed calls for a review of the Nordic nation's lax gun laws.
"We must considerably tighten them," Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen told broadcaster YLE. "We should consider whether to allow these small arms for private citizens at home. They belong on firing ranges."
Vanhanen was visiting Kauhajoki with other ministers today, which was declared a day of mourning.
Finland, a nation with deep-rooted traditions of hunting, ranks in the top five in the world when it comes to civilian gun ownership, with roughly 1.6 million firearms in private hands.
The government also called for an investigation of how police handled the case because the gunman was questioned by police a day before the carnage about YouTube videos in which he was seen firing his gun.
Police said they released him because he hadn't broken any laws and was not deemed a threat to others.
"It's clear that we have to carefully go through what should have been done and if we could have avoided this situation in some way," Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said.
Finnish media identified the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, a 22-year-old student at the school, which offers courses in catering, tourism, nursing and home economics.
Police declined to name him, saying he did not have a previous criminal record.
Witnesses said panic erupted as the masked gunman, dressed in black and carrying a large bag, entered the school just before 11am, and started firing in a classroom where students were taking an exam.
Police were still investigating the identities of the 10 victims Wednesday, but said at least one was a teacher.
The gunman shot himself in the head and died hours later at a hospital.
Police said his motive was unclear, though investigation leader Jari Neulaniemi said the gunman left two handwritten messages saying he had planned the attack since 2002 and that he hated the human race.
The rampage bore eerie similarities to another school massacre in Finland last year in which an 18-year-old gunman killed eight people and himself. Both gunmen posted violent clips on YouTube prior to the shootings, both were fascinated by the 1999 Columbine school shootings in Colorado, both attacked their own schools and both died after shooting themselves in the head.
A video clip posted on the Internet by the alleged gunman showed him pointing his gun to the camera and saying "You will die next" before firing four rounds.
President Tarja Halonen said at the United Nations that the shooting showed the need for the older generation to watch over the activities of the young on the Internet and to renew discussions about handgun legislation in Finland.
