Aarhus University Shooting | |
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Location | Aarhus, Jutland, Denmark |
Coordinates | 56°10′16″N 10°12′45″E / 56.171092°N 10.212406°E |
Date | 5 April 1994 |
Attack type | School shooting, murder-suicide |
Weapons | sawed-off shotgun |
Deaths | 3 (including the perpetrator) |
Injured | 2 |
Perpetrator | Flemming Nielsen |
Motive | Depression (assumed) |
On Tuesday, 5 April 1994, 35-year-old Flemming Nielsen of Silkeborg shot four female students, killing two of them, at Aarhus University in Denmark. Nielsen had been a student at the university since 1986. He opened fire with a sawed-off shotgun in a university cafeteria where he killed his first victim, 24-year-old Birgit Bohn Wolfsen. The remaining students in the room managed to escape. Nielsen proceeded into another cafeteria and opened fire again, killing his second victim, 27-year-old Randi Thode Kristensen. Another two people were wounded but survived. [1] [2]
Flemming Nielsen then retreated to a basement bathroom stall where he committed suicide via gunshot wound. The autopsy revealed that he had taken Fontex before the incident, and police found a suicide note at his home, stating how he "could not handle life anymore", and that he wanted to kill some people before ending his own life. [1] [3] [4] It remains the only school shooting that has occurred in Denmark. [5]