Police catch second man during investigation into three fatal Rotterdam shootings
Police arrested a resident of The Hague on Monday in connection with the fatal shootings of three people in Rotterdam. The man is not believed to have been directly involved in the incident on September 28, in which a mother and her daughter were killed, as was a doctor who worked as a teacher at the Erasmus Medical Center.
Fouad L. was arrested for the three murders. The medical student is accused of killing his neighbors and setting fire to their home on Heiman Dullaertplein, before shooting the doctor at the Erasmus Medical Center. He also allegedly set several fires in the hospital complex.
The new suspect is a 21-year-old man from The Hague, police said on Tuesday. He was arrested after forensic experts analyzed the firearms allegedly used by L. On one of the weapons, police said they found DNA from the man from The Hague.
“The arrested resident of The Hague has now been interrogated, and is still in custody; He did not have an active role during either shooting incident,” police said.
Fouad L. is the main suspect in this case and faces charges of triple murder, arson, and illegal possession of weapons.
The OM confirmed that Fouad L. confessed during interrogation to murdering his neighbors, 39-year-old Marlous and her 14-year-old daughter, Romy, at their home on Heiman Dullaertplein, before going to the Erasmus Medical Center and killing 43-year-old, Dr. Jurgen Damen. He was a lecturer at the university and worked as a physician in the area.
Fouad L. also allegedly set fires at his own home and at the education center of Erasmus MC. SWAT teams arrested the man at the university hospital.
Posts by L. on 4chan suggest that he killed the woman and child for reporting him for animal abuse. Other posts on the platform indicated that he was far-right leaning, with extremist views. Damen may have been targeted for his position on the university hospital’s examination board, which had informed L. that he had to undergo a psychological assessment before he could graduate as a doctor. That followed a letter from the OM, warning the university hospital about L.’s previous run-ins with the law, including a conviction for animal abuse.
In mid-October, a court decided to extend his pretrial detention for an additional 90 days, which may be extended further. He will undergo an evaluation at a forensic psychiatric clinic. He will appear in court again on January 15 for a pre-trial hearing
