Suspect accused of killing two in busy McDonald’s facing 30 years in prison
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) demanded 30 years in prison against 34-year-old Veysel Ü. for shooting and killing two men in a packed McDonald’s restaurant in Zwolle last year. The OM considers it proven that Ü. murdered them with a premeditated plan and not in a fit of rage or self-defense.
The incident happened at a McDonald’s restaurant in Zwolle-Noord on 30 March 2022. Ü. met with the two victims, brothers aged 57 and 62, for nearly an hour before he shot and killed them in front of everyone in the child-friendly restaurant. That weighed heavily in the OM’s demand for the longest possible sentence that isn’t life.
“The suspect shot both men dead in broad daylight, in a public place, under the eyes of countless unsuspecting bystanders. Bystanders who were in McDonald’s for a McFlurry or chicken nuggets, not to be traumatized. Teenagers who were in McDonald’s to end a student course with a hamburger, not to run away in terror. A little girl who came for a gift with a Happy Meal, not to lose her doll,” the prosecutor said in court.
According to the OM, the investigation showed that Ü. had a conflict over money with a family member of the victims - their son and nephew. Ü. had borrowed the family member a large amount of money and, despite promises, did not get all of it back. That put the suspect in financial difficulties.
The investigation also showed that the family member threatened Ü. because he repeatedly asked for his money to be repaid. “But the latest threats date from three months before the fatal shooting and, according to the OM, cannot be qualified as extortion.” Ü. also said that the two victims threatened him, but the OM found no evidence of this in the investigation. Witness statements also contradict it.
The three men talked for around 50 minutes before Ü. shot the other two. Witnesses said the conversation seemed agitated but not that any party was actively threatening the other. Ü. Went to pick up an order at the counter, calmly walked back, and shot the other two men before calmly walking out of the restaurant.
“Witnesses who saw the suspect shoot saw no emotion in him,” the prosecutor said. “He [shot] calmly and purposefully. A witness with experience with firearms assessed the action as having been practiced. Every shot hit.”
The suspect claims he can’t remember the shooting, but the OM considers that implausible. There are also several indications that the shooting was not an impulsive act but a planned one. The prosecutor mentioned the fact that the conflict had been dragging on for months and that believed the victims were involved in “the extortion.” He also brought a gun to the meeting.
“The suspect made a decision about which he was able to think in advance and to account for the consequences,” the prosecutor said. “The suspect deliberately shot the two men dead. Motivated by frustration or revenge, or a combination of both. These two victims were not the main actors in the conflict underlying the shooting. What’s extra bitter is that he had known the family for years.”
“The suspect took away their greatest asset, their lives, from both men, causing enormous suffering in what was a very close-knit family. Spouses, children, grandchildren, and other family members have all lost part of their lives,” the prosecutor said. And that does not even mention the innocent bystanders traumatized by the events in the McDonald’s.
The OM demanded 30 years in prison and not life because the suspect expressed remorse, had no criminal record, and had a personal motive. “That is emphatically different from, for example, cold-blooded assassination cases where there is often no personal relationship between the shooters and victims. The risk fo recurrence is also estimated as low.”
