Convict shot dead in Brabant town

A man with a criminal record was shot and killed in the Noord-Brabant town of Schaijk on Thursday afternoon. Two boys on bicycles found the critically injured man in his car on Rijksweg around 3:00 p.m., he was shot shortly before that, the police said in a statement. Omroep Brabant identifies the victim as 51-year-old Henk Baum from Nistelrode. He died at the scene.

The victim was found in a Porsche Panamera standing under eco-duct Maashorst. The boys called the police and emergency services, including an air ambulance, responded to the scene. But Baum could not be saved. Victim support was called in for the two teenagers who found him.

According to Omroep Brabant, Baum lived in the Loosven caravan camp in Nistelrode. The police raided his junk yard on Diezestraat in Oss in 2014 and found weapons and ammunition. In 2015 he was arrested for threatening alderman Rien Wijdeven. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service and two weeks in prison - the same length as his pre-trial detention.

The police immediately launched a large-scale investigation. Streets around the crime scene were closed off to the public while dozens of officers performed a trace evidence investigation along the service road on Rijksweg between Oss and Schaijk. Investigators call on witnesses to come forward.

A dark colored Ford was found near the crime scene. The car was parked on an unpaved road that is an extension of Weversweg in Zeeland. The police would like to know if anyone noticed this car there before. The Ford may have been used by the perpetrator or perpetrators.