Suspect in fatal Albert Heijn stabbing a former psychiatric prisoner: report

The 56-year-old man arrested on Tuesday for stabbing a 36-year-old woman to death in an Albert Heijn store in The Hague is a former psychiatric prisoner previously convicted of violent crimes and threats, according to the Telegraaf. Jamel L. is known to be dangerous and disturbed, “well-informed sources within the Public Prosecution Service” told the newspaper.

L. moved from Curacao to the Netherlands in his 20s. Here he got sentenced to institutionalized psychiatric treatment for violent crimes and extortion, according to the Telegraaf. After that sentence, he moved to Great Britain, where he was convicted in 2007 for threats with a knife and aggravated assault. The country deported L. to the Netherlands, where he was again arrested for a violent crime. He received treatment in an Amsterdam clinic and then left for Curacao.

In 2016, he was released from custody on the island, where he was serving a sentence for a violent crime. He came back to the Netherlands. In June, the court of Dordrecht convicted him for threatening employees of the municipality of Zwijndrecht, according to the Telegraaf.

Michael Mantz has represented L. several times in the past. “I was shocked that he was the suspect. He has always been very menacing verbally, and he has conspiracy-like thinking and delusions. But I am surprised that he stabbed someone,” Mantz said to the newspaper, describing L. as a “religious fanatic.”

The police have released no details about the suspect’s identity and said very little of what happened in the Albert Heijn store on Turfmarkt on Tuesday morning. “Shortly after seven, the suspect walked into the store. He walked up to the lady and stabbed her,” a police spokesperson told NOS. The victim worked at Albert Heijn. She died at the scene.