Mika Kalevi Muranen (born 1971, Kotka, Finland) is a

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

murderer Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

who shot three people dead with an assault rifle and a crossbow in April 1994 and was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment. After multiple appeals for parole, he was released in 2014.

Murders

Muranen, a military

conscript Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

, returned to his barracks in

Hamina Hamina (; sv, Fredrikshamn, , Sweden ) is a List of cities in Finland, town and a Municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. It is located approximately east of the country's capital Helsinki, in the Kymenlaakso Regions of Finland, reg ...

from a holiday on Sunday, 17 April 1994, stole an

Rk 62 The RK 62 (from Finnish , 'assault rifle 62'), officially 7.62 RK 62 and commercially M62, is an assault rifle manufactured by Valmet and Sako. It is the standard issue infantry weapon of the Finnish Defence Forces. The RK 62 was designed in 196 ...

assault rifle from the barracks and fled to his hometown

Kotka Kotka (; ; la, Aquilopolis) is a city in the southern part of the Kymenlaakso province on the Gulf of Finland. Kotka is a major port and industrial city and also a diverse school and cultural city, which was formerly part of the old Kymi parish ...

. The next day, still dressed in his uniform, he entered his neighborhood and fatally shot two of his neighbors, Reino Vulkko, 53, and his wife Sirkka, 54, with a

crossbow A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fi ...

he had taken from his home. On 19 April, he fatally shot a postman, Matti Olli, aged 45, with the assault rifle. He also shot randomly at nearby houses, escaping into the forest with his dog. During the chase, police shot the dog with a

submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...

, while Muranen returned fire with the assault rifle. The

police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

chased him for a day before slightly wounding him. After he was arrested he expressed regret that his military service would be terminated. Muranen was found to be competent to stand

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

. Kotka district court sentenced him to life in prison on three counts of murder, eight counts of attempted murder, and three counts of attempted

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...

. He was sent to a prison in

Mikkeli Mikkeli (; sv, S:t Michel; la, Michaelia) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in what used to be the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Etelä-Savo region. The municipality has a population of () (around 34,000 i ...

Parole

In 2004, after serving 10 years, Muranen was transferred to an

open jail An open prison (open jail) is any jail in which the prisoners are trusted to complete sentences with minimal supervision and perimeter security and are often not locked up in their prison cells. Prisoners may be permitted to take up employment w ...

Laukaa Laukaa (; sv, Laukas) is a municipality of Finland. It is located next to Jyväskylä and is part of the Central Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The ...

. In 2006, while serving his sentence in Laukaa, he gave his first interview to the Finnish crime magazine ''

Alibi An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...

''. Muranen applied for parole several times: 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. In September 2013

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

court of appeal finally granted parole. Muranen was released from prison in September 2014.

References

Literature

* Markkula, Hannes: ''Suomalainen murha 1991–1994.'' Living people 1971 births 20th-century Finnish criminals Finnish male criminals People from Kotka Finnish prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Finland People convicted of murder by Finland Finnish people convicted of murder People convicted of attempted murder People paroled from life sentence 1994 mass shootings in Europe {{Crime-bio-stub