2 weeks of fear in Rotterdam over: gunman caught

Two weeks of fear Rotterdam and the hunting after an unknown person killing indiscriminately has come to an end.

After three fatal shooting attacks, the police in the Dutch port city have caught a 24-year-old who they believe is responsible for all the crimes.

Prosecutor: “We have not yet found a connection between the victims”

“It was a nightmare for all residents of Rotterdam because someone was running around randomly looking for victims,” ​​said prosecutor Hugo Hillenaar after the alleged perpetrator’s arrest at night.

After breathing a sigh of relief, the investigators remain to search for the still unknown motive. “We have not yet found a connection between the victims,” said the prosecutor. There is still no statement from the arrested man about his motives. The police had been searching day and night for the unknown man who most recently shot an 81-year-old on the way back to his apartment on Thursday morning. A neighbor found the senior lying in a flower bed.

The shooter always killed in the same part of town

In the previous two weeks, a 58-year-old and a 63-year-old Rotterdam man were shot and fatally injured on the street by the unknown man, both in a remote location and, like the 81-year-old, in the district IJsselmonde. “It quickly became clear that it was probably the same shooter,” said Rotterdam police chief Fred Westerbeke.

The police patrolled the area with a large contingent of officers, and a helicopter hung in the air. Police officers spoke to numerous young men who resembled the alleged perpetrator who had been captured on video surveillance several times – including the man later arrested in a supermarket on Thursday evening, who was completely calm at the time. “He was probably just there shopping,” said Westerbeke.

The task force arrested the wanted person on the balcony

A few hours later, the investigative team began to gather evidence that the man in the supermarket was the suspected shooter. A task force arrested the wanted man on the balcony of an apartment in Rotterdam. The police also confiscated a firearm that they believe was the murder weapon – the shooter killed twice with a shot in the head.

The arrest ends a time of uncertainty and fear for people in the big city – most recently, the police even called on people in the district on Thursday afternoon not to leave their houses. “There was fear in the neighborhood and sadness over the deaths of neighbors,” said Rotterdam Mayor Carola Schouten. She spoke of “terrible events.”

The role of the second person arrested is still unclear

The role of a 20-year-old man from Amsterdam, whom investigators arrested on Monday on suspicion of a crime, continues to cause guesswork. The man is still in police custody on suspicion of having something to do with the crimes, said prosecutor Hillenaar. But the man is not the shooter.