Zwijndrecht shooter confessed immediately after arrest; Remanded into custody

Minh V. confessed to trying to murder his ex-girlfriend and murdering her mother at a Zwijndrecht mall last month. He confessed immediately after his arrest on Saturday, his lawyer told AD. The 49-year-old was arraigned on Monday and remanded into custody for 14 days, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said.

According to lawyer Haroon Raza, V. was not trying to avoid punishment by going on the run after gunning down his ex Anneke and her 66-year-old mother at the busy mall on Saturday, January 21. “He wanted to leave money for his ex-girlfriend Anneke. He needed time for that,” Raza said.

“He now wants to get his sentence as soon as possible,” the lawyer said. According to him, V. will accept whatever the court gives him. “He says it was never his intention to hurt Anneke,” Raza said. This weekend, V. sent her a letter to express his regret.

Anneke, 38 and from Rotterdam, was severely hurt in the shooting. She is still in the hospital. Her mother, Michel, died at the scene of the shooting at the Walburg mall in Zwijndrecht.

Their family can’t believe V.’s claims. “They don’t believe a word of it and don’t want to waste any words on it,” a spokesperson for the family told AD.

V. is facing charges of murder and attempted murder. He was arrested in Schiedam on Saturday. The authorities tracked V. down “thanks to a tip from an observant citizen in combination with intensive investigation work,” the OM said.

The OM previously offered a reward of 30,000 euros for the tip that led to V.’s arrest. “It has not yet been decided whether the tip money will be paid out,” the OM said on Monday. “As soon as a decision has been made, it will be communicated.”

The police are still investigating where V. had been hiding over the past weeks and who was helping him.