Police shoot man on explosives claim

“It’s just a regular Dutchman who is very confused,” a police spokesperson said last night about a man who officers shot in his leg because they mistakenly thought he was carrying explosives.

Police in Vlissingen had cornered the 23-year-old man from Middelburg around 9.00pm, after neighbors reported that he had been acting strange. When officers approached him to make an arrest, they noticed something in his waistband that looked like explosives.

The officers ordered him to stand still and then shot him in the leg when he kept moving. Residents were advised to stay indoors while a negotiator tried to talk to the man.

Emergency workers meanwhile kept their distance until it was sure that he did not have explosives on him. Around 10.00pm the bomb technicians of the Defense Ministry confirmed that it was safe to approach the man.

He was taken to a hospital and according to police he will be sent for psychological treatment. It is not clear as yet whether he will be arrested. The police spokesperson refuted reports that the man was a radicalized Muslim. “It’s just a regular Dutchman who is very confused,” she said.