Apple Store Amsterdam: People freed from hostage

Dramatic scenes broke out in the Dutch metropolis yesterday: the attack on an Apple Store probably did not go as planned by the robber, who then took hostages. The situation was film-ready, as the affair ended when the criminal tried to escape. The hostage-taking started late Tuesday afternoon. Like the news agency Reuters reported, witnesses heard gunshots, which led to a confrontation of several hours between a hostage-taker and the police, initially about 70 people were in his hands. It’s not clear whether this was all planned or whether the killer had to stage a botched robbery here.

In any case, the kidnapper, armed with a pistol and an automatic rifle, demanded a ransom of 200 million euros (in the form of Bitcoin) and also threatened to blow up the building and the store. A police spokesperson told the Amsterdam newspaper Parool: “He threatened a hostage with a gun and threatened to blow himself up, so we took it very seriously.”

“Heroic” Hostage Escape

The hostage situation ended around 10:30 p.m. and emergency services arrested a 27-year-old. However, the ending was very spectacular, as police said on Twitter: “We managed to end the situation by running over the hostage-taker with a car as he ran outside.” There is a recording of this action on Twitter. You see two people running down the street, the person in front may be the escaped hostage.

This 44-year-old Briton managed to escape when a robot brought water to the door of the store. “The hostage played a heroic role in forcing a breakthrough. Otherwise, it could have been a long night,” police said. The video shows the person behind it being hit by an approaching vehicle and thrown several meters backward. It is unknown what damage the hostage-taker sustained. Police spoke of serious injuries, but the man was said to have been alert when he was arrested.