Suspect in Albert Heijn fatal stabbing went straight for victim, police say

A lot is still unclear about the stabbing at an Albert Heijn on Turfmarkt in The Hague on Tuesday morning, in which a female employee of the supermarket was killed. “Shortly after seven, the suspect walked into the store. He walked up to the lady and stabbed her,” a police spokesperson told NOS. The police currently don’t think the man was trying to rob the supermarket.

The stabbing happened about 6 minutes after the Albert Heijn store opened. The victim worked in the bread department. She died at the scene. According to AD, she may have been a temporary worker. The suspect, a 56-year-old man, was arrested a short time later.

The police are investigating what happened, interviewing the victim’s colleagues, and reviewing camera footage at the store and nearby. “We can really only say that the man walked up to the woman and stabbed her. More details aren’t available at the moment,” the police spokesperson told NOS.

Over 30 people were at the Albert Heijn when the stabbing happened, including workers and shoppers. The emergency services deployed several ambulances and a trauma team to the scene. The trauma team was called off before arriving, presumably because the victim had died.

Employees came running out of the supermarket in a panic just after 7:00 a.m., an employee of Bakker Bart, across from Albert Heijn, told AD. “The girls from Albert Heijn came out screaming,” they said. “We actually open half an hour later but quickly opened the doors and got everyone inside.”

The police arrested the suspect shortly after the stabbing. He was caught at the back of Leiden University on Schedeldoekshaven.

“It was a man in a black tracksuit with a hood. He had blood on his hands,” an employee of a telecom company who saw the suspect come out of the store said to AD. “He looked a bit strange in his eyes. Not completely clear. His arms were tight at his sides as he walked by. I didn’t see a knife in his hands.”

The Hague mayor Jan van Zanen visited the Turfmarkt to speak to witnesses. Victim support was arranged for everyone who witnessed the attack.