Court convicts suspect of shooting two brothers to death in Zwolle McDonald's
The Overijssel court sentenced on Monday 34-year-old Veysel Ü. to 30 years in jail for shooting and killing two men in a packed McDonald’s restaurant in Zwolle last year. In addition to the prison sentence, the man must also pay compensation totaling more than 200,000 euros.
This is in line with what the Public Prosecution Service demanded.
The incident happened at a McDonald’s restaurant in Zwolle-Noord on 30 March 2022. Ü. met with the two victims, brothers aged 57 and 62, for nearly an hour before he shot and killed them in front of everyone in the child-friendly restaurant.
Witnesses said the conversation seemed agitated but not that any party was actively threatening the other. Ü. Went to pick up an order at the counter, calmly walked back, and shot the other two men before calmly walking out of the restaurant.
The investigation showed that Ü. had a conflict over money with a family member of the victims - their son and nephew. Ü. had lent a large amount of money to this family member and, despite promises, did not get all of it back, putting the suspect in financial difficulties.
The court ruled on Monday that Ü. 'deliberately took the lives of both men in an apparently cold-blooded manner. According to the court, he killed the victims with premeditation because he brought his weapon with ammunition to the appointment with both brothers, which indicates that the man had at least considered using the weapon before the start of the appointment.
“The brothers were both fathers, grandfathers, brothers, sons, and friends, leaving a lasting void in the lives of the relatives: the loss is felt every day,” the court said.
In his sentence, the court also took into account that the man committed the “horrible and very shocking” murders in broad daylight at a busy time in a McDonald's in front of many bystanders, including many families and children. “These people have had to experience a traumatic event and will have to carry this with them for the rest of their lives,” the court said.
