The gunman was one of the 400 pupils at Jokela High School. Finnish police said he was taken to hospital after trying to shoot himself following the attack.  
Emergency services evacuated scores of pupils from the school

"Five boys, two girls and one adult woman were killed," Police Chief Matti Tohkanen told a news conference, later identifying the woman as the principal of the school.

Jokela High School is located in a town about 40 miles north of the Finnish capital Helsinki.

Kim Kiuru, a teacher at the school, said the gunman moved systematically through the school hallways, knocking on the doors and shooting through them.

"I saw the gunman running with what appeared to be a small caliber handgun in his hand through the doors toward me after which I escaped to the corridor downstairs and ran in the opposite direction," he said.

Mr Kiuru said he saw a woman's body as he fled the building.

"Then my pupils shouted at me out of the windows to ask what they should do and I told them to jump out of the windows ... and all my pupils were saved.