Family pressing charges against cop in Schiedam fatal police shooting

The 21-year-old man killed by a police bullet in Schiedam on Monday was Mitchel Winters from Capelle aan den IJssel. His family will be pressing charges against the police officer who shot him on Thursday, their lawyer Gerard Roethof said on RTL Late Night on Wednesday. "The point is that the family wants to make clear that it is unacceptable that someone who left home healthy and unarmed, was shot dead in a moment", Rothof said on the program. "The family wants to make clear that the deadly shot was fired mistakenly." Mitchel was shot and killed in Prinses Beatrixpark in Schiedam around 10:00 p.m. on Thursday night. He was shot by police officers responding to reports of an armed robbery. On Wednesday the Public Prosecutor announced that Mitchel himself called emergency number 112 to report the robbery. One of his relatives recognized his voice on the call's recording. And the telephone from which the call was made was found next to his body. He gave a description of the perpetrator that matched himself, including the bag the perpetrator allegedly stole. The Rijksrecherche, the department that handles internal investigations at the police, is investigating the incident. Investigators are seriously considering that Mitchel made a false report and deliberately sought confrontation with the police. Mitchel's family thinks it unlikely that he wanted to commit suicide by cop. "It is questionable whether Mitchel wanted that", Roethof said on RTL Late Night. "Let's be honest: how often are false 112 reports made? And is it true that everyone that makes a false 112 report, wants to commit suicide. The idea and statement that someone wanted to commit suicide by police bullets, is far to short-sighted." A witness told Hart van Nederland that Mitchel left a suicide note. According to the witness, a backpack was found a short distance from where the shooting took place. It contained a tablet which had a photo of Mitchel on it and the text: "I love you. Goodbye my love. PS: Tell her." In 2010 Mitchel's father Jerry Landveld was also killed by police bullets, RTL Nieuws reports. The 40-year-old man was shot after he stabbed a police dog and then threatened officers, according to the broadcaster. The police first shot him in the legs, but when that did not stop him, shot him in the chest. The officers who shot Landveld were not prosecuted. The court determined that they acted in self defense. The same conclusion was made in the appeal of the case.