Roermond woman killed by stalker who then committed suicide
Those in the Netherlands in life threatening danger should immediately dial 112 for emergency services. Anyone suffering from depression or contemplating suicide may call 113 Zelfmoordpreventie at any time by dialing either 113 or 0800-0113. Counselors at De Luisterlijn may also be reached at 088-0767000, or volunteers may be reached at one of their local numbers. A list of suicide crisis hotlines outside the Netherlands is available on Wikipedia.
A fatal shooting in a home in Roermond on Wednesday afternoon happened in the relationship sphere. According to the police, a man shot and killed a woman he had been stalking for some time and then killed himself.
Police are still investigating what led up to the incident. They are looking into how long the man had stalked the woman and whether she reported it. A police spokesperson could not say much about this on Thursday afternoon. “The investigation is ongoing.” Although the suspect died in the incident, the police are continuing the investigation for the benefit of the relatives and to learn from it themselves, the spokesperson said. “We want to know what happened.”
Social media posts showed that the woman had felt threatened by the man for some time. He had been stalking her since she recently ended a relationship with him. In the weeks before her death, the woman told friends that she feared the man would do something to her.
The police received a report on Wednesday evening around 6:30 p.m. that someone in a house on Kasteel Hillenraedstraat in Roermond was believed to be suicidal. When officers arrived, they heard gunshots in the home and called for backup. Inside, the officers found two bodies - the home’s resident and the man. No one else was in the house. No one else was involved in the shooting, the police said.
Mayor Rianne Donders-de Leest was shocked by the “terrible news.” After the shooting on Wednesday, she spoke to the first responders at the home. In a statement on Thursday, she expressed her deepest sympathy to all relatives. “We understand that this also impacts local residents,” she wrote. “We’re inventorying with the partners in the neighborhood whether, and if so which, help is needed.”
The shooting in the house on the Donderberg caused a lot of reactions in the neighborhood and on social media. Numerous locals gathered around the police barriers on Wednesday evening, some in tears. The first responders received victim support at the police station after their deployment.
Reporting by ANP