Matti Pesu

Matti Pesu

Date of birth: 23.1.1947

Date of death: 4.8.1977

Rank: Senior Constable

Police unit: Savonlinna Police Department

Sources: Poliisimies 9/1977

Description of events: At night after 2 am, the police were informed that someone had broken into Kauronen’s hardware store on Satamakatu. Constables Jouko Konsti, Matti Pesu and Paavo Vellonen went to investigate. Pesu went to the backyard and entered the building through a window. Once inside, a struggle ensued between Pesu and the two burglars. They shot Pesu and also tried to shoot Konsti, but the latter was not hit. One of the burglars, the 26-year-old escaped convict Rauno Tapio Silvennoinen, was arrested on the scene. The other burglar, Toivo Juhani Aittokallio, who had escaped from the provincial prison in Oulu, was caught by a police dog unit two hours later on Kasinonsaari one kilometre away. Aittokallio was still armed but did not resist. The next day, it was discovered that Pesu had been hit by bullets from two different firearms, indicating that he had probably been shot by both burglars. The two firearms had been stolen in Kouvola the previous night.

Offender 1: Aittokallio Toivo Juhani (later Jari Juhani Jarra)

Offender 2: Silvennoinen Rauno Tapio

Judgment 1: Sentenced to life imprisonment

Judgment 2: Sentenced to life imprisonment

Memorial plaque: Police University College