Man admits to random knife attack in Finland, say police

A 23-year-old Finnish man has admitted to stabbing four people in a random knife attack in central Tampere, police said at a press conference on Friday, as authorities continue to investigate his motive, public broadcaster YLE news reported.

The suspect, who has a history of violent crimes, was arrested near the scene shortly after the attack on Thursday afternoon.

He is currently being held on suspicion of four counts of attempted manslaughter, but the charges may be upgraded to attempted murder.

Police said the man attacked three women and one man with a nine-centimeter blade near the Ratina shopping mall around 4 p.m. local time (1300 GMT).

The victims, all adults, were stabbed within the span of a minute. Some sustained serious injuries.

"This happened very quickly. The entire incident lasted about one minute," Chief Inspector Sakari Tuominen told reporters.

According to investigators, the suspect said he did not know any of the victims and chose them at random.

He denied having any racist, political or terrorist motive and claimed he could not remember whom he had attacked.

"The perpetrator said that everyone was an enemy and that he wanted to end his own suffering in this way," Tuominen added.

Authorities are still waiting on lab results to determine whether the suspect was under the influence of substances at the time.

The man has prior convictions, including a stabbing in 2023 and multiple knife-point robberies. He was most recently sentenced to prison for assault in June, and officials are now investigating why he was not in custody.

A detention hearing is scheduled for Monday at the Pirkanmaa District Court.