Trial opens for suspects in Finland school shooting plot

HELSINKI (AP) - Prosecutors say a 21-year-old former student was planning a school shooting in central Finland that would kill at least 40 students.

Prosecutor Eija Velitski says the woman had agreed to buy handguns, automatic weapons and hand grenades, among others things, from a 42-year-old-male accomplice who is also charged in the trial that started Friday at the Helsinki District Court.

Velitski said the woman, who was not named, has partly confessed, adding she fantasized about such plot, especially after the 2007 school shooting in Finland where eight people were killed.

Velitski said the woman had practiced target shooting and had plotted the deadly rampage at her former school in Kokkola for at least two years. It was not clear when it was to take place.

The trial ends Monday.