Videos show citizen's arrest of man who stabbed 5 people in Amsterdam; Locals shocked
A man stabbing and badly injuring five people in the heart of Amsterdam on Thursday left witnesses and locals in shock. The perpetrator was detained by a bystander in a citizen’s arrest. Videos are circulating on social media, including several showing the man’s face, trying to identify him. The police have said nothing about his identity or motive so far.
The apparently random stabbings happened at around 3:15 p.m. on Nieuwzijds Voorburgwal, Sint Nicolaasstraat, and Nieuwendijk, near Dam Square. Those injured include a 67-year-old woman and a 69-year-old man from the United States, a 73-year-old woman from Belgium, a 26-year-old man from Poland, and a 19-year-old Dutch woman living in Amsterdam. Two of the victims were critically injured. The other three sustained serious injuries.
Residents and business owners in the area were all instructed to stay inside and keep their doors closed. They were visibly shocked, Parool reported. One resident was at home when he heard the screaming. He looked outside and saw victims lying on the street, bleeding profusely.
On the corner of Sint Nicolaasstraat, another bystander was on the phone with his office when he heard a commotion and turned to see a woman lying on the street in front of the fabric shop Dutch Quilts. “At first I didn’t realize what was going on,” he told Parool. Then he saw the perpetrator running away. Together with an American woman, he approached the victim to offer help. They saw a knife sticking out between the woman’s shoulders and a large amount of blood.
Another passerby was walking along Nieuwezijds Voorburgwal when the woman was stabbed. She “went into shock” and ran into a nearby bike rental company. “I’m shaking all over,” she told Parool. “Because it could have been me.”
The suspect - a white man with shaved black hair, according to videos shared on social media - was arrested shortly after the stabbings. Footage from 3:18 p.m. shows him running through Gravenstraat in grey jeans and a black jacket. A civilian in blue jeans and two people on a fat bike chased him. A bystander tackled him and pinned him down on Nieuwendijk, near the Febo and H&M.
“Another man was kneeling on his back,” a bystander told Parool about the citizen’s arrest. “It happened very quickly.”
The suspect was arrested and taken to a hospital to be treated for a leg injury. Nothing is known about his motive. The police told Parool that it does not appear to have been a terrorist attack, though Justice Minister David van Weel told RTL Nieuws that it is too early to rule that out.
Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema met with the Amsterdam authorities. “The police investigation is in full swing and currently has full priority,” they said in a press release after the meeting. “We hope to soon get more clarity about the background of this horrible stabbing. Our hearts go out ot the victims, their families, and loved ones.”
