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Police officers at the crime scene in Alblasserdam near Rotterdam.
A man shot two women here.
Photo: Sem van der Wal/EPA
A 16-year-old and a 34-year-old woman were shot dead in a therapy facility near Rotterdam.
A 13-year-old boy and a 20-year-old woman were seriously injured, police said.
The police arrested a suspect who may be a triple murderer: the 38-year-old is suspected of having killed a 60-year-old shoemaker two days earlier in the port city of Vlissingen (Zeeland province).
This was announced by the responsible senior public prosecutor, Hugo Hillenaar, at a press conference in the evening.
The alleged perpetrator had been treated in the facility
According to the police, the alleged perpetrator opened fire on bystanders around 11 a.m. on the »Tro Tardi« care farm in Alblasserdam.
Emergency services were able to stop and disarm him around 20 minutes later.
"We are very happy that we were able to stop the man so quickly and that there were no more victims," said a police spokesman, according to the ANP news agency.
There was initially no information on the motive of the 38-year-old, who lived in a village not far from the scene of the crime.
The man had previously been treated in the therapy facility himself, the prosecutor said.
He will be presented to an examining magistrate in the coming week.
The allegation will be triple murder or manslaughter.
The newspaper "Algemeen Dagblad" reported that the man was on record in 2017 for harassment of women, among other things, but had no criminal record.
Children, young people and adults with mental disabilities, behavioral disorders or mental illnesses work on the care farm during the day for therapy purposes.
For example, you can take care of animals or tend gardens.
There are several such institutions in the Netherlands.
ktz/dpa
