Amsterdam driver gunned down as bullets spray tram, neighborhood

By Janene Pieters on May 13, 2015 - 08:12
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Police close off part of De Clercqstraat after Amsterdam shooting (Picture: Twitter/@RobertFlos). (Police close off part of De Clercqstraat after Amsterdam shooting (Picture: Twitter/@RobertFlos))

A man was shot and killed in Amsterdam just after midnight on Wednesday. He was found next to a car and died of his injuries at the scene.

The incident happened around 00:15 a.m. on De Clercqstraat. According to the police, it is unclear whether the man got out of the car himself or whether he was pulled out by the perpetrators. The identity of is still unknown. As such the police can't yet say whether this shooting is related to the series of gangland executions that has been plaguing Amsterdam over these last few years.

Flying bullets also hit a number of parked cars and a passing tram. No one else was injured.

The police have closed down the are. A large scale investigation team is performing a forensic- and technical investigation.

Eyewitnesses told NOS that 7 or 8 shots were fired. "At first we thought it was fireworks, but then a black scooter came riding past on the bike path with two men on it. The passenger had an automatic weapon in his hands", one of the witnesses said.

A witness told AT5 that a man wearing a helmet walked up with an automatic weapon and shot at the driver of the car. Another witness saw the victim being overtaken on Bellamystraat by two men on a scooter. "The passenger had a gun, the barrel stuck out about 25 centimeters. We immediately called the police"

Customers of the nearby Sisha lounge think that the victim might have been an innocent bystander, NOS reports. According to them, two men wearing helmets came running into the cafe shortly before the shooting. One was carrying a Kalashnikov, the other a pistol. They were looking for a man that had just left. Someone else allegedly shot at the men to chase them away. The men fled from the cafe, shooting, and continued shooting on the street. One of these bullets may have accidentally hit the man in the car.

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