Police shoot knife wielding man in Dutch town; 10 shots fired

The police shot a knife waving man in the leg on Vredensestraat in Winterswijk on Wednesday afternoon. He sustained minor injuries and was treated in hospital before being arrested. Witnesses report hearing 10 shots fired, the Gelderlander reports.

The man has been in contact with the police in the past. Several police officers responded to a report of him threatening to stab someone in a pharmacy on the street at around 1:00 p.m. "Officers tried to disable the man with pepper spray, but due to the extreme wind, it had no affect", the police said in a statement.

The suspect started threatening officers with his knife. After a number of warning shots were fired, the man threw away his knife, but almost immediately pulled out another knife. Eventually one of the officers shot him in the leg.

Witnesses told the Gelderlander that 10 shots were fired. An officer at the scene could not confirm this to the newspaper "I can only say that several warning shots were fired and after that a number of aimed shots", he said.

The police closed down the scene and launched an investigation. The Rijksrecherche, the department that handles internal investigations at the police, is also investigating the shooting. This is standard procedure whenever a police officer fires his or her gun during an incident.