- By Anna Holligan in Rotterdam and Jaroslav Lukiv in London
- BBC News
September 28, 2023
Updated 2 hours ago
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Watch: Smoke rises from the building after the Rotterdam shooting
Dutch police have arrested a gunman who killed at least three people in double shootings in the city of Rotterdam.
They say the 32-year-old male attacker opened fire in a house before setting it on fire and then stormed the city’s Erasmus Medical Center on Thursday.
He was a student at the Erasmus University, which is affiliated with the hospital.
A 39-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were killed in the first shooting. A 43-year-old lecturer was shot dead in hospital.
Footage has emerged showing a man in camouflage clothing being taken out of the hospital building in handcuffs. The motives for the attack were initially unknown.
A security guard, who says he was first on the scene, told the BBC it was a “shocking” day.
“It was terrible, terrible,” he said, visibly shaken and did not want to give his name.
He said the shooter did not enter the medical center through the main entrance.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte wrote in a post on social media: “My thoughts are with the victims of the violence, their families and all the people who were very afraid.”
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Employees were seen leaving the Erasmus Medical Center
At a news conference after Thursday’s shooting, Rotterdam police officers said the shooter was known to them. He was convicted of animal cruelty two years ago.
The suspect’s name is Fouad L., Dutch media reports.
Police said there was no evidence of a second shooter.
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Barak says he was in a job interview when the shooting began at the medical center
As the shooting began at the medical center, staff members could be seen running out of the building with patients, some on stretchers.
Signs reading “Room 32. We can’t leave!” were visible on two hospital windows.
Barak, a 27-year-old student from Israel, told the BBC he was in a job interview when the shooting began. When he came out it was scary with so many sirens and messages.
“We can’t believe it was a student like us,” he added.
Another student said on the RTL Nieuws website: “First there was a shooting on the fourth floor. Four or five shots were fired. Then a Molotov cocktail was thrown into the education center.”
Elite police units – including snipers – stormed the hospital and helicopters hovered over the hospital building.
Before his arrest, police said the dark-haired, tall suspect may have been riding a motorcycle in riot gear and carrying a backpack, headphones and a handgun.