Seven people killed after man opens fire with machine gun in Dutch mall
Unbelievable.
As most Dutch people today were enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather, a gunman went on a rampage in a crowded shopping mall and killed several people before shooting himself.
At work today, I got a text message about what had happened from a friend who wanted to know if I was okay. We headed straight to one of the computers in our break room to find out what was going on. And were totally shocked.
Violence is definitely not unknown in The Netherlands. We're an outspoken bunch and tend to speak before we think our words through. We argue, we fight, we scuffle, however we aren't very prone to simply killing in cold blood. There is also a lot of tension between Dutch people and immigrants, however mostly that's contained to gossip, nasty comments and people simply refusing to take the time to learn to understand each other.
Violence like this - a gunman on a rampage - is something I hear about happening in the US, Iraq or Afghanistan; not this close to home. Not in my own country. Whatever the shooter's motivations were - and I have no idea right now - or what was going on in his head, I sincerely hope this was an isolated incident.
Reading about what happened in The Daily Mail to see what English-language papers had to say about what happened, I came across the following "things like that would never happen in our country" quote:
I've written about violence in The Netherlands before, and I was as horrified by the violence then as I am now. My motivation for writing the previous article was different, however the words I finished that post with are the same words I´m going to finish this post with. They fit.
We are not usually a violent people.
I'm becoming less and less sure about repeating that phrase with a straight face. What is happening to our country? What is happening to our people? To the world? And what else will happen next? How many more will be wounded, killed, trampled, scarred for life?
As most Dutch people today were enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather, a gunman went on a rampage in a crowded shopping mall and killed several people before shooting himself.
At work today, I got a text message about what had happened from a friend who wanted to know if I was okay. We headed straight to one of the computers in our break room to find out what was going on. And were totally shocked.
Violence is definitely not unknown in The Netherlands. We're an outspoken bunch and tend to speak before we think our words through. We argue, we fight, we scuffle, however we aren't very prone to simply killing in cold blood. There is also a lot of tension between Dutch people and immigrants, however mostly that's contained to gossip, nasty comments and people simply refusing to take the time to learn to understand each other.
Violence like this - a gunman on a rampage - is something I hear about happening in the US, Iraq or Afghanistan; not this close to home. Not in my own country. Whatever the shooter's motivations were - and I have no idea right now - or what was going on in his head, I sincerely hope this was an isolated incident.
Reading about what happened in The Daily Mail to see what English-language papers had to say about what happened, I came across the following "things like that would never happen in our country" quote:
Although rare, shootings and violence are not unknown in the Netherlands.Source: The Daily Mail
Among other incidents, in 1999, four students and a teacher were hurt in a school shooting and in 2004, a teacher was shot dead by a student.
The country has also seen two assassinations in the past decade, the 2002 killing of right wing politician Pim Fortuyn by an animal rights activist and the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by an Islamic extremist.
In 2009, a loner drove his car into a group of bystanders during a royal parade, killing eight and wounding 10.
I've written about violence in The Netherlands before, and I was as horrified by the violence then as I am now. My motivation for writing the previous article was different, however the words I finished that post with are the same words I´m going to finish this post with. They fit.
We are not usually a violent people.
I'm becoming less and less sure about repeating that phrase with a straight face. What is happening to our country? What is happening to our people? To the world? And what else will happen next? How many more will be wounded, killed, trampled, scarred for life?
