Alkmaar girls aged 12 & 14 suspected in seven arsons, including city shopping mall

Two underage girls who were arrested Friday evening on suspicion of arson in an Alkmaar shopping center are also suspected of involvement in arson at six other locations in the Noord-Holland city, the Public Prosecution Service (OM) said on Monday. Dozens of homes were evacuated during the fire at the De Mare outdoor mall, which triggered an NL-Alert at about 8 p.m. on Friday due to the development of smoke. There were no injuries, though two people were treated at the scene by paramedics.

A spokesperson for the District Court of Noord-Holland said that the girls, aged 12 and 14, were brought before the examining magistrate on Monday. The magistrate decided that the 14-year-old girl will remain in custody for two more weeks, and that the 12-year-old girl will not be kept in detention ahead of her trial.

The two are suspected of involvement in arson at a total of seven locations. An overview provided by the OM shows that the two are suspected of first starting their arson spree at 3 p.m. on the Gasthuisstraat in the city center. After that, there were suspicious fires on Laat at 3:30 p.m., Koorstraat at 5:10 p.m., Pettemerstraat at 5:55 p.m., and Noorderkade at 6 p.m.

Various media outlets reported that there were fires in a library, a McDonald's branch, a Decathlon store, a Vue cinema and the Grote Sint-Laurenskerk.

The last incident was at De Mare on Europaboulevard in the north of Alkmaar at 7:15 p.m. The large fire started in the KiK store and spread to a neighboring building. The center and surrounding homes had to be evacuated. The two people treated by paramedics were evaluated for smoke inhalation.

The fire was under control around 11 p.m. The police previously said they were investigating whether the two were involved in other small-scale arsons, after several reports were filed on Friday about fires which were intentionally set in the city.