2023-09-28 18:57:30
Three people were killed, a 14-year-old girl, her mother and a teacher, on Thursday after a 32-year-old man shot at a house and then a hospital in Rotterdam, southwest of the Netherlands, the Dutch police said. Dutch police.
The man, who was arrested, appears to have acted alone for reasons still unknown, police told the press.
Photo AFP
According to police, the shooter was known to authorities for animal abuse and was a student at the hospital.
“We cannot yet say anything about the motives for these terrible acts. The investigation continues,” Attorney General Hugo Hillenaar told journalists, stressing that the suspect was cooperating with the police.
Photo AFP
The man opened fire in a house in the Dutch port city, killing a 39-year-old woman and seriously injuring her 14-year-old daughter – who died shortly after – said police chief Fred Westerbeke.
He then entered a classroom at Erasmus Hospital, killing a 46-year-old teacher. Each time he also started fires, which were quickly extinguished but which caused panic.
Elite police units burst into the hospital, while stretcher bearers and ward staff tried to evacuate patients in wheelchairs or on stretchers.
Photo AFP
“It’s incredible,” said a general practitioner, Matthijs van der Poel, quoted by the Algemeen Dagblad online site. “Everyone is shocked and following the news in horror. I fear that such things cannot be avoided.
The man is suspected of being the sole perpetrator of the shooting and there was no second shooter, police said.
Photo AFP
Combat clothing
Police earlier said the suspect was wearing “combat” clothing, was tall, with black hair and was carrying a backpack.
“First there was a shooting on the fourth floor. Four or five shots were fired. Then a Molotov cocktail was thrown in a classroom,” said a medical student quoted by the REL television channel without giving his name.
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“There was a lot of panic and screaming… I didn’t hear any shots, just panic,” said another eyewitness, quoted by public broadcaster NOS.
Images broadcast in the press showed a ballet of helicopters, as well as snipers posted on neighboring roofs.
Photo AFP
“I am sad and angry,” Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb told the press, speaking of a “black day” for his city.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte expressed his “great dismay”. “My thoughts are with the victims of this attack, their loved ones and everyone who was immensely afraid,” he wrote on X, the former Twitter.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima said their hearts go out to those suffering “intense grief”.
Photo AFP
Rotterdam is often the scene of shootings generally attributed to score-settling between rival drug gangs.
In 2019, three people were shot dead on a tram in Utrecht, sparking a massive manhunt. In 2011, the country was shocked when 24-year-old Tristan van der Lis killed six people and injured 10 others in a crowded shopping mall.
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