According to the police, the victims were individually stabbed on or in the immediate vicinity of the Ferdinand Bolstraat. According to AT5, the victim who died of his injuries was found in front of a kebab shop on Van der Helststraat, about a hundred meters from Ferdinand Bolstraat.
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The police, who received several reports shortly after the incident, turned out en masse. Among other things, members of the Special Interventions Service (DSI) visited the site. Police helicopters also flew over the city. After ‘a manhunt’, the suspected perpetrator was arrested, says a spokesman. The police are urgently looking for witnesses to the incident. According to the Amsterdam police, people were still on their feet at the time the stabbing incidents took place.
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An employee of a bakery in the immediate vicinity, who was already working around midnight, says to this site that he only saw that something was wrong when the police arrived. An employee of a catering business on Van der Helststraat also declares to AT5 that he received nothing from the stabbing itself. When he came out, the perpetrator had already disappeared and there was an unconscious victim on the street. It was ‘a normal, busy catering evening’, he says.
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As a result of the incident, trams and metros do not stop in or around Ferdinand Bolstraat. Residents were only allowed to go to their homes under supervision. The municipality says it will keep a close eye on ‘sentiments and possible unrest’ in the neighborhood. Victim Support is also called in.
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Nothing is yet known about the circumstances of the incident, or the motive of the perpetrator. The police assume that one person has stabbed the five others. The investigation team led by the Public Prosecution Service currently has no direct indications that there is a terrorist motive.
A police spokesperson was unable to provide further details about the case and the investigation. “Helping the victims is now our first priority,” it said. However, all options are kept open, reports the Triangle Amsterdam, in which the municipality, the judiciary and the police are united.
The authorities say they have spoken to each other about the stabbing incidents and the investigation last night and will provide more information today. The triangle expresses “condolences to the relatives of the fatal victim and wishes the injured a speedy recovery and strength for all their loved ones.”
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