German women struck by bullets in Amsterdam city center shooting

The two people injured during a shooting in the center of Amsterdam on Tuesday evening are German women. Both suffered gunshot wounds, and were recovering from their injuries, police said. The 26-year-old victim was briefly hospitalized, but was later brought home by the police. The 22-year-old was treated for minor injuries by paramedics at the scene.

The incident happened at about 6:45 p.m. Witnesses called emergency services first to report "that two men were running down Taksteeg, one being chased by the other. Suddenly there were several gunshots and the two then continued running left onto the Rokin," police said. It still was not clear if the men involved in the chase fired guns, a police spokesperson told ANP.

The first responding officers were quickly on the scene. They found the two injured women on Oude Turfmarkt, which runs parallel to the Rokin canal.

Police on Wednesday still did not know the motive for the shooting. Only vague descriptions of the suspects were released as part of a citizen alert in the immediate aftermath: Two men with darker colored skin tones in their late twenties, one of whom was wearing a baseball cap and darker clothes.

Authorities asked witnesses to come forward with better descriptions of anyone who was involved in the incident, and to report anything they saw or heard that was suspicious.

It was the second shooting in the city center with multiple injuries in three days. Two people were hospitalized following a shooting near Central Station early Sunday morning.