Three people have been injured in a shooting at the Summer Carnival in the Dutch of Rotterdam. Police have since arrested three people, including the perpetrator and one of the victims.
During the annual Summer Carnival, it is often very busy at the Coolsingel, a traffic axis with shops and restaurants on both sides in the centre of Rotterdam. After the street parade including dancers and floats, a closing party takes place. That is where things went wrong on Saturday night.
After an earlier shooting incident at the same spot at around 17:00, police were already at the scene en masse. A man had drawn a weapon but did not cause any casualties – he is still on the run.
Second shooting
In front of some police officers present, another shooting took place at 21:30. The officers drew their weapons and fired several shots; the gunman went down.
On hearing the gunshots, panic ensued and a woman who wanted to run away fell down and was injured. Both the perpetrator, the victim who was shot, and the fallen woman were taken to hospital. There, both the perpetrator and the victim were arrested. A third suspect was apprehended nearby not much later.
Nothing is known about the condition of the injured people yet. An investigation into the shootings is ongoing. "At the moment, there seems to be no connection between the two incidents, but the possibility is taken into account in the investigation," said the Rotterdam police.
The Rotterdam Summer Carnival received international attention just a few days ago due to a warning that carnival groups dancing too vulgarly would be barred.
