Elderly Rotterdam man shot neighbor before killing self; Woman, 21, in critical
A 79-year-old man shot his neighbor in the Rotterdam neighborhood of Charlois on Tuesday morning before turning the gun on himself. The 21-year-old woman is in critical condition. The elderly man died in hospital this afternoon, AD reports.
According to local residents, the two neighbors, who shared a porch, were in the midst of a quarrel. They were seen exchanging words around 8:30 a.m., witnesses told the newspaper. The man shot the young woman right in front of their homes and barricaded himself in his house.
As the the shooter could see the victim from his home, first responders moved her up the street before resuscitating her. She was rushed to hospital in critical condition. The woman had bullet wounds in her upper body and her head, one witness said to AD.
A police negotiator approached the elderly man's house on Wolphaertsbocht to make contact with him. The negotiator gave the man a few minutes to come outside, otherwise a SWAT team would enter to bring him out, according to the newspaper. Moments later a gunshot was heard from behind the house.
Inside, the police found that the man had turned the gun on himself. He was rushed to hospital, where he died as a result of his injuries.
What the neighbors were quarreling about is unclear.
The elderly man's suicide makes him the fourth person to be injured or killed in gun violence in Rotterdam in three days. On Sunday night a 21-year-old man was shot and killed while barbecuing with friends outside a home in Ommoord. And on Monday night a man was shot during an argument in Blijdorp. He was conscious and able to talk to the paramedics when he was taken to hospital by ambulance.
