Finnish Killer Linked to US Teen

Massacre gunman chatted online with Philly attack plotter
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 13, 2007 3:28 AM CST
Finnish Killer Linked to US Teen
An armed policeman stands in front of the school of Perttu in Tuusula, Finland yesterdaywhen pupils of Jokela school temporarily join classes here following a shooting incident at their school. Pekka-Eric Auvinen, 18, killed six students, the head teacher and a nurse before turning the gun on himself....   (Associated Press)

The Finnish teenager who killed eight people and committed suicide last week chatted online with a Philadelphia area youth who plotted a Columbine-style assault at a suburban school. Dillon Cossey, 14, told his attorney that the Finnish youth "gave no indication he was going to do anything violent" and Cossey insisted he "offered nothing in the way of encouragement."

Authorities are hoping the information may offer some insight into the Finnish teen's conduct. Both boys were avid players of the video game "Hitman," and shared an obsession with the students responsible for the Columbine high school massacre. Cossey, who was arrested last month after police confiscated a stockpile of weapons in his bedroom, is awaiting a hearing to determine a treatment program. (More Finland school massacre stories.)

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