The Myyrmanni bombing took place on October 11, 2002, in Myyrmäki, Vantaa, Finland, in Greater Helsinki, at the Myyrmanni shopping mall. A bomb hidden in a backpack exploded in the center of the mall, killing seven people including the bomber. The blast left a 10-cm deep crater in the floor and blew out the glass dome of the mall. The dead included two teenagers and a seven-year-old. 159 people were injured, including 10 children. 66 victims required hospitalization while the remainder were 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 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 Described as quiet and somewhat withdrawn, Gerdt was an amateur bomb-maker with no known close friends.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 and nitromethane with shotgun pellets and weighed about 2–3 kilograms (4.4–6.6 lb). Investigations revealed that some kind of timer was also used. Kotikemia was shut down by the authorities following the bombing.
Site
The site of the explosion was at the central square of the first floor of the Myyrmanni shopping centre about 45 metres from the southern entrance near the Iskostori square, next to a McDonald's restaurant, a Musta Pörssi store and a K-Citymarket grocery store. There was a twisting stairway at the site leading to the upper floors and down to the parking garage. The escalators leading to the second floor were also located nearby as well as the elevators. The explosion was so powerful that it broke the ceiling structure, which were damaged but did not collapse. The worst damage was to a relatively small area of about 400 square metres. Traces of the shotgun pellets in the bomb were found inside the shopping centre at a maximum distance of 70 metres from the site of the explosion, near the northern entrance next to the Paalutori square.
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.
Timeline
Friday 11 October
Gerdt's parents went to work at the morning as usual and didn't notice anything strange in their son's behaviour. Gerdt left home from Tikkurila in the morning before noon. He left his mobile phone powered off in a shelf, where it was later found by the police. He also left his computer powered on, on standby.
- 12:12: Gerdt boarded a bus on line 84 travelling between Tikkurila and Mellunmäki. The investigation did not find what he was doing and where he was going during the next four hours. There has been speculation that he had hidden parts of the bomb supplies in forests near Mellunmäki and also worked on his bomb. There are World War I era fortifications in Mellunmäki where it is easy to hide objects. Gerdt also possibly visited Itäkeskus or other places in Helsinki with the Helsinki Metro.
- 16:10: Gerdt boarded a bus on line 84K at the Mellunmäki metro station and returned to Tikkurila. He probably never returned home after this.
- 17:10: There was a confirmed sighting of Gerdt at Asematie in Tikkurila. An eyewitness saw Gerdt walk towards the Tikkurila railway station and the bus station next to it.
- 17:15: Gerdt boarded a bus on line 50 or a bus on line 55 at 17:18. Both of them travelled from Tikkurila to Myyrmäki.
- 18:00: Gerdt arrived at Myyrmäki. There are no confirmed records of his movements between 18:00 and 19:20.
- 19:00 to 19:20: There are eyewitness sightings of Gerdt at Myyrmanni and near it. He went to the public toilet on the second floor to work on his bomb. A ten-year-old boy saw him work on his bag and shotgun pellets from below the toilet stall door. The boy first thought the noise came from a belt buckle hitting the floor, but later realised it had been the shotgun pellets.
- 19:20: A security camera made the first confirmed recording of Gerdt at Myyrmanni. However the cameras did not record the site of the explosion.
- 19:30 to 19:35: There are unclear eyewitness sightings about Gerdt's movements. The bag containing the bomb was by his legs at this point. In front of the nearby McDonald's restaurant was a clown dealing out balloons, played by a volunteer employee of the Project Hope foundation. There were plenty of children watching the performance. According to criminal investigation, the bomb was on his lap when it exploded, about a metre above the floor, with Gerdt standing up at the time of the explosion.
- 19:35: The bomb exploded in Gerdt's lap, killing him instantly. Gerdt's body was flung out a distance of 15 metres and smashed against the window of an Intersport sports equipment store. As well as Gerdt, the bomb killed six people and wounded hundreds of others, some of them severely. The first emergency call was made at 19:36:49. Immediately after the explosion, the shops at Myyrmanni were closed and the intact survivors at the shopping centre were guided outside. There was no real panic at the shopping centre according to eyewitnesses.
- 19:38: The first emergency rescue units arrived at the scene. According to first information, the explosion was thought to have resulted from an exploded gas bottle at the clown performance. The first police patrol that arrived on the scene found Petri Gerdt's driving licence on the floor near the check-out counters at the Citymarket grocery store. The licence proved to be a conclusive clue and was sent to the Tikkurila police station and from there to the Finnish Central Criminal Police. A total of 59 wounded, of which eight were children, were transported by ambulance and Medi-Heli helicopter to the Töölö, Meilahti, Jorvi, Peijas and Hyvinkää hospitals as well as the Children's Clinic Hospital, and during the next four days 27 patients were operated in 49 operations.
- 20:04: The Finnish News Agency STT published the first news about the explosion at Myyrmanni. YLE made a special broadcast about the event.
- 20:50: The last wounded patients had been transferred to hospitals. Criminal investigators arrived at the scene. As the explosion hinted at terrorism, an investigator from the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service (SUPO) also visited the scene. Suspicion of a bomb strike awoke when steel pellets were found in the wounds of the patients transferred to hospitals.
- 21:00: Finnish authorities held the first public information event at Myyrmanni.
- 21:30: A critical aid point was opened at the Kilteri School near Myyrmanni.
- 22:00: A Kymmenen uutiset news broadcast made the first announcement that the event had been a bomb explosion. Confirmation of this reached the news just before the broadcast was made.
- 23:10: Rescue operations were ended. The case moved on to the police.
Saturday 12 October
- 01:30: The responsibility for the investigation moved from the Vantaa police to the National Bureau of Investigation.
- 03:00: The police announced they suspect the explosion had been a deliberate strike instead of an accident.
- 11:30: The Lipponen Cabinet held an emergency meeting about the event.
- After 12:00: Criminal investigators used a DNA investigation to find out the identity of the bomber. Directly after this the police performed a search at Gerdt's home in Tikkurila. The police confiscated Gerdt's computer, instructions for the bomb, shotgun pellets and chemicals needed for the bomb from his room. Gerdt's school and workplace were also searched.
- 13:00: A memorial service was held for the victims at the Myyrmäki Church. The service was attended by President of Finland Tarja Halonen and her husband Dr. Pentti Arajärvi, Prime Minister of Finland Paavo Lipponen, Interior Minister Ville Itälä, Minister of Basic Services Eva Biaudet and Minister of Culture Kaarina Dromberg.
Sunday 13 October
A radio and television news broadcast revealed that the perpetrator of the Myyrmanni bombing had been the 19-year-old chemical engineering student Petri Gerdt from Vantaa, who was also killed himself in the explosion.
Monday 14 October
Investigation of the event continued with technical investigations at the scene. The police reconstructed the event inside Myyrmanni, trying to find the precise location of the bomb at the time of the explosion. On the same day, the National Bureau of Investigation published a computer-generated image of a shop window dummy with Petri Gerdt's face. The dummy had been dressed in similar clothes as Gerdt had been wearing at the time of the explosion. The bureau hoped to gain more information about Gerdt's movements before the explosion with this image. The image led to much better clues, and Gerdt's movements could be tracked as far back as the previous Thursday.
The flag at the Espoo-Vantaa Technical University of Applied Sciences next to Myyrmanni was lowered to half-staff and there was a moment of silence at the school. The Ministry of the Interior suggested a global half-mast day on Tuesday 15 October throughout the country.
Later events
During the next week the police arrested four youths who had been discussing explosives at the same Internet forums as Gerdt, and their homes were also searched. One of the arrested was a 17-year-old high school student from Hämeenlinna who was using the nickname "Einstein". The police investigated whether he had been taken part in constructing the bomb, in which case he would have been guilty of assistance to a severe act of destruction. In June 2003 the boy using the nickname "Einstein" and two other boys were sentenced to fines for crimes related to explosives, which apparently had no connection to the Myyrmanni bombing.
Aftermath
On October 15, 2002, Finland observed a national day of mourning 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 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, where these types of attacks are extremely rare.
Perpetrator
The perpetrator Petri Gerdt was described as a quiet, lonely, isolating and nice person who took others into account and appreciated others. He was never diagnosed with any psychiatric disturbance. His father Armas Gerdt said his son was a delicate character who as a child cried over even a small fall or discipline action and who often got his way. Armas Gerdt described his son as somewhat childish.
Petri Gerdt apparently never had a relationship or a large circle of friends. He never got any friends even through his hobby of playing basketball which he excelled in and was once awarded the "most valuable player" prize. Gerdt was very lonely and many of his contacts were over the Internet. Very few people of Gerdt's age visited him at home, except sometimes to play video games on the family's computer, which not very many families owned at the time. These visits stopped when Gerdt was ten years old.
Gerdt spent a lot of time in his room and on the family computer. Most of his other time he was at school or at basketball practice. "When Petri was not at school or at basketball practice, he was at home", describes Gerdt's father. On 11 October 2002 Gerdt didn't return home in the evening, which was unusual. On Saturday evening 12 October 2002 the family had wondered where he might be: "And he (Petri) couldn't even have stayed overnight at anyone's home, because he had no friends", describes Gerdt's father.