HELSINKI, Finland – Officials believe that the 18-year-old student, who killed eight people at a Finland high school before killing himself, may have had contact with the 14-year-old Pennsylvania student accused of plotting a Columbine-style massacre.
According to reports, Pekka-Eric Auvinen of Finland and Dillon Cossey of Plymouth Meeting, Pa., were friends through the social networking site MySpace. Both were members of the groups “RIP Eric and Dylan” – a reference to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebod who murdered 12 students at Columbine High School – and “Natural Selection.”
Police are still investigating the connection.
Auvinen executed six students, a school nurse and the principal at his high school. He then shot himself in the head and died hours later.
Cossey was arrested for plotting a similar attack He had accrued a large amount of weapons, including a 9mm semiautomatic rifle, grenades, 30 air-powered guns, swords, knives and videos of the 1999 Columbine attack.
Cossey’s mother is also accused of buying the weapons for her son.
Cossey’s attorney, J. David Farrell explained that Web-sites that glorify high school killings strengthens the feeling of isolation, which in turn supports fantasies of violence. He also said the connection between the two youths should be a wake-up call to parents with troubled teenagers socializing online.
