New Year's Eve Bloodshed

He murdered his ex and her lover in a bitter act of revenge. But what made their killer continue his bloody massacre at a busy shopping centre, ending innocent lives?

It was New Year’s Eve 2009, and Sello Mall in Espoo, Finland, was heaving with shoppers. When the mall opened in 2005, it was one of the largest in the region, boasting 170 stores.

Thousands of shoppers flocked there during the festive season, and, this year, more than 3,000 people had arrived early to snap up post-Christmas bargains in stores. However, the hustle and bustle of busy shoppers was soon disrupted by deafening bangs.

But, at just after 10am, it wasn’t early New Year’s Eve fireworks. A gunman had entered the Prisma supermarket at the mall and opened fire.

Innocent people were targeted. Two were shot on the store’s first floor, and two more on the second.

On a mission

The sound of piercing screams and gunshots echoed through the shopping mall. Terrified shoppers fled in every direction in an attempt to save themselves. But the killer, it seemed, was on a mission…

After killing the four victims, the gunman vanished, and a manhunt began…

Later that day, it emerged that the four shoppers hadn’t been the only victims.

A woman had been found dead in her apartment on the outskirts of the city.

Investigators believed she’d been the killer’s main target.

Her ex-boyfriend Ibrahim Shkupolli, 43, was the man police were after, and they began their search.

Shortly after, he was found dead at his flat. He’d shot himself in a room that was empty except for a mattress and a framed photo of his ex-girlfriend.