Cop to be prosecuted for fatal shooting of Delft young man

A police officer who shot an 18-year-old young man at a coffee shop on Breestraat in Delft in 2018, who later died in hospital, must be prosecuted. The Court of Appeal in Amsterdam ruled this on Monday. The young man's family filed a complaint because the Public Prosecution Service (OM) decided not to prosecute the cop. According to the court of appeal, the facts and circumstances are so complex that the criminal court must rule on them.

According to the OM, the shooting was proportional, and the cop could not have reacted differently to the incident. The Rijksrecherche, the department that handles internal investigations at the police, also ruled that the police officer had fired his gun correctly. But the young man's relatives believe that the officer should have acted differently.

Officers fired their guns when they wanted to arrest the young man along with another suspect. He was standing in front of a coffee shop with an "object resembling a firearm," according to the investigation by the Rijksercherche.

The 18-year-old was left injured in front of the hospital in Zoetermeer. It is believed he was hit as he was running away from the police who were trying to arrest him. The young man was later identified as the son of a police officer.