Sanna Sillanpää
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Sanna Riitta Liisa Sillanpää shot three men to death with a rented pistol on 21 February 1999 in a shooting club on Albertinkatu, Helsinki, and wounded another man.
Sillanpää then travelled from the Helsinki centre to the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in a city bus (probably line 615), carrying a gun and ammunition. At the airport she was trying to buy a ticket to a nondescript place somewhere. Sillanpää was caught after four hours as she was boarding a plane to London. Before boarding the plane she left the murder weapon in a trash can in the airport terminal. It was discovered by a cleaner.
At the trials and hearings Sillanpää did not speak at all. No motive for the act was found.
In mental health examinations, Sillanpää was found to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia. In district court, the state prosecutor Maarit Loimukoski demanded Sillanpää be imprisoned for three acts of manslaughter without full understanding (partially insane) and for two attempted acts of manslaughter, but the district court found Sillanpää to be without understanding (legally insane) and decided to send her to the Niuvanniemi mental hospital in Kuopio. Loimukoski explained that the reason for her demand for punishment was that Sillanpää had acted with premeditation in attempting to flee Finland and hiding the gun after the act.
Sillanpää, 30 years old at the time, has a Master's degree in philosophy and is an IT expert.
After the incident, a public discussion about renting firearms on shooting ranges started in Finland. Many wanted to tighten the availability of weapons. New propositions were made by the authorities and in shooting clubs.
