Dutch shooting
April 9, 2011
A man with an automatic weapon opened fire in a shopping mall in the Dutch town of Alphen aan den Rijn on Saturday, April 9, at midday, resulting in six dead and 16 wounded.
The gunman opened fire indiscriminately on shoppers at the town's Ridderhof shopping center. He then shot himself in the head with a second weapon, according to reports, a handgun.
"He was shooting around wildly, we ran for our lives," one woman told German news agency dpa. "Everybody was panicking, people were climbing over each other."
Alphen aan den Rijn is a town of 72,000 which sits between Amsterdam and The Hague.
The town's mayor Bas Eenhoorn said a center to assist witnesses of the bloodbath had been set up in the town.
"We offer our sympathy to all those who were wounded and to the families of the victims' of this incomprehensible attack on a day which began so full of sunshine," Eenhoorn said.
Author: Stuart Tiffen (AFP, AP Reuters, dpa)
Editor: Toma Tasovac