Criminal killed in Delft shooting

A man was killed in a shooting near a coffee tent on Kalverbos in Delft just before noon on Tuesday. The victim is notorious Delft Criminal Karel Pronk, witnesses told newspaper AD, though the police have not confirmed this.

According to witnesses, between three and five shots were fired at the coffee tent around 11:50 a.m. Emergency services tried to resuscitate the victim on the pavement, but he died. No arrests have been made.

The police closed off part of Insulindeweg in Delft and spent some time doing investigation in and around a passenger car, according to AD. A police spokesperson could not confirm to the newspaper whether this was related with the fatal shooting on Kalverbos.

Witnesses told AD that the victim is Karel Pronk. "Very justified", one witness said to the newspaper. "This should have happened years sooner. He has sown death and destruction here." Another witness told the newspaper that it "wasn't a question of if, but when" Pronk would be assassinated.

A member of Pronk's family last saw him in cafe De Tobbe on Sunday. "He came to stand by me. I said to him: I would rather you fuck off, because there can easily be an attack on you and I do not want to stand in your vicinity." He is saddened, but not surprised by Pronk's murder. "It was the expectation that this would happen."

Karel Pronk has murder, drug trafficking and robbery convictions behind his name. According to AD, he was known as the "Haagse Holleeder".