Teenager was aiming for suicide-by-cop when he threatened parliament staff with knife
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The 19-year-old man who jumped over the gates of the temporary Tweede Kamer, the lower house of parliament, in February and threatened several employees with a knife was hoping to commit suicide by cop, his lawyer said at a pro-forma hearing on Wednesday. Tijn B. was hoping that the Koninklijke Marechaussee would gun him down, AD reports.
On Thursday evening, 13 February 2025, B. traveled by train from his home in Nijmegen to the Tweede Kamer in The Hague. Before entering the building at around 6:30 p.m., he threw his phone and his cards into the pond in front of the building. He then threatened the woman at the door with a knife, jumped over the access gate, and forced himself into the Tweede Kamer. He also made stabbing motions towards security guards behind a glass wall and sent representatives from the Foreign Affairs committee fleeing ot a safe room.
During the incident, the Tweede Kamer was locked down, and ongoing debates were halted. The Koninklijke Marechaussee eventually arrested B. No one got hurt.
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) is charging B. with preparing a terrorist murder and threatening several people. His lawyer acknowledges that the man threatened the woman at the door, but questions whether the guards behind a glass wall could have felt threatened. The lawyer also disagrees with the preparation for a terrorist murder charge.
“He didn’t want to kill anyone and wasn’t preparing a terrorist crime,” the lawyer said. “If he had bumped into a politician, nothing would have happened, he stated that several times during the interrogation.” B. was seriously depressed and suicidal at the time of the incident, the lawyer said. He saw on the Tweede Kamer website that a debate would happen, and knew that would mean the presence of Marechaussee officers. So he went in threatening, hoping to be gunned down, the lawyer said.
The OM is doubtful and will wait for B. to undergo a psychiatric assessment before drawing any conclusions. “I find the motive that he himself indicates very questionable,” the prosecutor said.
B. did not say much in court, only that he wanted to go home. The court remanded him into custody until the next hearing in July. “You aggressively showed a knife in the Tweede Kamer,” the judge said. “It is the center of Dutch politics and the heart of democracy, and that gives rise to the suspicion of a terrorist motive.”
