The Oulu Police Department has asked members of the public for help in tracking down the perpetrator of an apparent random stabbing of a woman in the city last week. The victim is understood to be a Finnish citizen of foreign background.
Police said the violent attack took place near the city's Knuutilankangas park between 7:30 and 8:00pm on Friday evening.
The woman's injuries were not life-threatening, according to investigators.
Police initially said the suspect was on a bicycle at the time of the alleged attack, while the female victim was walking.
Authorities also said the suspect had briefly spoken in English and had used a derogatory term referencing foreigners. The department said on Saturday that investigators were looking into that aspect of the crime.
On Sunday police said that investigators had learned that a group of four or five teenage boys were at the park, but had left the scene before the suspected crime was carried out.
Police noted that the boys are not suspects in the incident, but asked them to come forward if they were at the scene.
The department said officers were continuing to investigate the incident, and also examining whether it might be related to similar recent incidents in Oulu.
In April, a man was stabbed in the Raksila district by an unknown perpetrator who investigators believe was also riding a bicycle. In a second incident in the same area in May, police received reports of a man on a bicycle approaching a woman of foreign origin and allegedly striking or pushing her from behind. The woman was not injured.
There was also a series of high-profile stabbing attacks on foreign nationals in Oulu in the summer of 2024, including by a known neo-Nazi on two children and by a teenager on a Bangladeshi national. Both attacks occurred a few days apart in the same shopping centre in the city.
Members of the public can contact the Oulu Police Department by email at: vihjeet.oulu@poliisi.fi, by phone at: 0295 416 194, and via WhatsApp at: 050 305 0132.
