On 9 April 2011, six people were killed by a gunman who entered the Ridderhof mall in
Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands,
a town approximately south-west of
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
.
Using a rifle, 24-year-old Tristan van der Vlis shot several people and then killed himself, reportedly with a different firearm.
There were seven deaths, including the killer, and 17 wounded,
making it the deadliest attack in the Netherlands since the
2009 attack on the Dutch royal family.
Shooting
Van der Vlis, wearing a bulletproof vest and armed with a
semi-automatic Smith & Wesson M&P15-22, a stainless steel
Colt M1911
The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for th ...
.45-caliber pistol, and a
Taurus Raging Bull .44 Magnum revolver,
[ first got out of his car and shot a person outside, then entered the Ridderhof mall and fired more than 100 rounds, killing six people and injuring another 17 before he took a pistol, and took his own life. Many shoppers in the centre panicked before it was evacuated and cordoned off.] Later that day one of the injured victims died from their injuries, raising the total number of deceased to seven. The gunman had left a note in his car stating that explosives had been left in three malls in the city; these malls were subsequently evacuated. Children were among the victims, but they had had only mild injuries. Among the dead were three males aged 80, 49 and 42, and three females aged 91, 68 and 45. The first victim was a poet and journalist from Syria who had escaped an assassination attempt, only to be killed by Van der Vlis after fleeing from his home country to the Netherlands. This was a random killing, as Van der Vlis shot at his victims indiscriminately.
Perpetrator
The shooter was 24-year-old Tristan van der Vlis who lived in an apartment complex in Alphen aan den Rijn with his parents. He had lived in Alphen since his childhood. According to the police, he was a member of a shooting association and possessed three firearms.[{{Cite web, url=http://nos.nl/artikel/231838-moeder-vond-afscheidsbrief-in-flat.html, title=Moeder vond afscheidsbrief in flat, work= NOS, date=9 April 2011, accessdate=9 April 2011, language=Dutch] He had a history of psychological and psychiatric problems, including paranoid schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social w ...
; in 2006 he spent 10 days in a closed institution after attempting suicide. He wanted to punish God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
by murdering "his creatures".
Van der Vlis was obsessed with the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and chose the date of 9 April because it was the birthday of gunman Eric Harris
Eric David Harris (April 9, 1981 – April 20, 1999) and Dylan Bennet Klebold (; September 11, 1981 – April 20, 1999) were an American mass murder duo who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre on April 20, 1999. Harris and Klebo ...
, his 30th birthday had he survived. Van der Vlis started shooting at 12:08 pm because that was the time when Harris committed suicide.
Van der Vlis was the grandson of Hennaarderadeel Hennaarderadeel is a former municipality in the Dutch province of Friesland, southwest of Leeuwarden. Since 1984, the area has been a part of the municipality of Littenseradiel
Littenseradiel () is a former municipality in the northern Netherlands, ...
and Franeker
Franeker (; fry, Frjentsjer) is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Waadhoeke. It is located north of the Van Harinxmakanaal and about 20 km west of Leeuwarden. As of 1 January 2014, it had 12 ...
mayor Kornelis van der Vlis, who was a member of the National Socialist Movement during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. He was also the nephew of former Dutch General Arie van der Vlis, who also served as the Chief of the Defence Staff from 1992 to 1994.
Casualties
*Ali van Doorn (91)
*Frans Deutekom (80)
*Margriet ter Haar (68)
*Michael Boezaard (49)
*Constanze Boezaard-Bierman (45)
*Nadim Youssef (42)
Response
The Netherlands Government Information Service
The Netherlands Government Information Service (''Dutch:'' Rijksvoorlichtingsdienst, abbrev.: RVD) is a Dutch government agency. The RVD is the official information service of the Dutch government and is the spokesbody for the prime minister, the ...
, through a brief statement on Twitter, said Queen Beatrix
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husban ...
was "speechless because of the great loss and sadness;" and politicians such as Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten
Ivo Willem Opstelten (born 31 January 1944) is a retired Dutch politician and jurist. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).
Opstelten applied at Leiden University in May 1963 majoring in Law and obtaining an Bac ...
expressed feelings of shock and tragedy.
Several thousand people attended a memorial service at the mall on 10 April. Prime Minister Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte (; born 14 February 1967) is a Dutch politician who has served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands since 2010 and Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) since 2006.
After a business career working for Unileve ...
, Minister Opstelten and acting Mayor of Alphen aan den Rijn Bas Eenhoorn were also present.
Copycat threats
Shortly after the shooting, police arrested a 17-year-old boy who threatened to carry out another mass shooting. The teenager from Rotterdam posted on Twitter:
{{blockquote, Haha Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
is also coming to the Netherlands. This man in Alphen already has 6 kills on his name. I'm going to outdo him.
After a backlash, the boy deleted the post and claimed it was a joke. Since then, four other people were arrested for making similar threats on Twitter.
Aftermath
On 20 September 2019, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands (''Hoge Raad'') concluded that the police of Alphen aan den Rijn was at fault for distributing a firearms license to the perpetrator who obviously had a mental illness. Therefore, the police are held accountable for all damages suffered by the victims and their relatives. After the shooting the police in the Netherlands have given out far fewer licences and maintain stricter rules regarding the possession of guns.[{{cite web , url=https://www.destentor.nl/zwolle/politie-weigert-vaker-wapenvergunningen-na-schietdrama-in-alphen-aan-den-rijn~a5c297e8/ , title=Politie weigert vaker wapenvergunningen na schietdrama in Alphen aan den Rijn , author=Gerard Meijer , date=28 September 2019 , language=Dutch]
See also
*Utrecht tram shooting
On the morning of 18 March 2019, three people were killed and seven others were injured in a mass shooting on a tram in Utrecht, Netherlands. One of the injured died of his injuries ten days later. Gökmen Tanis, a 37-year-old Turkish man, was a ...
References
{{reflist
Attacks in Europe in 2011
Alphen aan den Rijn
Deaths by firearm in the Netherlands
Murder–suicides in Europe
Mass murder in 2011
Mass murder in the Netherlands
Suicides by firearm in the Netherlands
Mass shootings in the Netherlands
Attacks on shopping malls
April 2011 events in Europe
2011 murders in the Netherlands
2011 mass shootings in Europe
Columbine High School massacre copycat crimes