Police fire shots near primary school, injuring one

Police officers shot and injured a woman near a primary school in Alkmaar on Wednesday morning. Multiple pupils of the primary school witnessed the shooting, bystanders told NH Nieuws and NoordHollands Dagblad. The woman was taken to an area hospital

The incident happened on Piemstraat, near primary school Durv! located on Elgerweg in the Noord-Holland city. An ambulance was dispatched to the scene at 8:16 a.m., followed by a trauma team by helicopter one minute later.

Parents of pupils initially called the police at about 8:10 a.m. when they saw a woman smash a window, police said. She then walked past the school with a knife and hammer in hand, NH Nieuws reported, with another local broadcaster saying she was seen screaming alongside the windows of the primary school. One witness wrote on Facebook in a since-deleted post that the woman was threatening a child in a car and shouting at them. A man then jumped out of the car and tried to subdue the woman.

The police confirmed that they responded to the scene after receiving a report of vandalism, police said in a statement.

"The person did not follow our instructions. Officers felt compelled to shoot," police continued. "The victim was injured and urgently taken to the hospital."

Schietpartij in Priemstraat Alkmaar; één gewonde naar ziekenhuis https://t.co/P5OIKhqfDY pic.twitter.com/XDDzxwAyeG

— Alkmaar Centraal (@alkmaarcentraal) November 13, 2019

"The children are quite upset", a witness told NH Nieuws. The school day was just beginning when the incident took place.

The Rijksrecherche, the department that handles internal investigations at government services like the police, will investigate the shooting. This is standard procedure whenever a police officer fires his or her service weapon.

Several damaged cars were also found in the neighborhood, according to a local broadcaster.