2 People Shot Dead in Netherlands, 5 Stabbed in School in Spain

By Staff, Agencies

A gunman has shot dead at least two people in the Netherlands while a 14-year-old stabbed three teachers and two students in a school in Spain. 

A woman and a man were killed on Thursday after a 32-year-old gunman opened fire at a house and a medical school in the Dutch port city of Rotterdam.

Rotterdam police chief Fred Westerbeke said in a news conference that a 39-year-old woman and a 46-year-old male teacher at Rotterdam’s Erasmus Medical Center were killed.

A 14-year-old girl who happens to be the deceased woman's daughter has been injured and is in critical condition in a hospital.

“We have been shocked by a horrible incident. Shots were fired in two different places in the city. Many people witnessed it,” Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb said.

The police said that the suspect had been arrested but they were yet to establish a motive.

“A 32-year-old Rotterdam resident has been arrested. He is suspected of involvement in the two violent incidents…. We are not assuming a second shooter,” the Dutch police said on X, formerly called Twitter.

“The suspect was known to law enforcement and in 2021 he was prosecuted and convicted for animal abuse,” said Hugo Hillenaar, Rotterdam’s chief prosecutor.

The identity of the victims and the suspect has not been disclosed by the police.

Pictures showed helicopters buzzing overhead and police snipers taking up positions on the hospital roof.

The incident took place after 2 pm local time when shots were fired at a house near the hospital, with a fire later breaking out there.

Rotterdam has witnessed shootings and small explosions that are usually attributed to rival drug gangs.

Separately, a 14-year-old stabbed three teachers and two students in a school in the Andalusia province in Southern Spain.

On Thursday, the teenager whose identity has been withheld allegedly stabbed 5 people repeatedly shortly after classes started at the school in Jerez de la Frontera in the southern Andalusia region, police spokesman Adrian Dominguez told reporters.

“The 14-year-old, said to have autism, had entered the classroom this morning before he took out two large knives from his backpack and began 'stabbing everyone who passed by,” police said.

"Police located the suspect on the third floor. He had in his possession the two knives used to attack three teachers and two students," Dominguez said, adding the suspect had been taken to a police station.

Four of the injured were treated in hospital, including a teacher who will need surgery in her eye after being stabbed by a pupil, the regional government's education minister, Patricia del Pozo, told media.

The head of Andalusia's regional government, Juan Manuel Moreno, said the trigger for the attack was not clear but flayed "extreme violence" on television and elsewhere.

"We should all reflect on the role played by violence on television, in the movies, in games. The violence which we very often see on social media, gratuitous, sometimes extreme violence," he added

The incident sent shock waves across the country as Spain has a fairly low crime rate compared to other European countries.