'We can't get out': Chilling note in hospital window as three killed including girl, 14, in Rotterdam shootings

28 September 2023, 18:01 | Updated: 29 September 2023, 00:55

A chilling note was left in the window of the medical centre.
A chilling note was left in the window of the medical centre. Picture: Alamy

By Jenny Medlicott

Three people, including a 14-year-old girl, have died after a gunman opened fire at a medical centre in Rotterdam, according to Dutch officials.

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The shooter opened fire at a home and then set it alight at about 14:00 local time before attacking the Erasmus Medical Centre.

A woman, 39, and her daughter, 14, died in the home while a lecturer, 43, named as Jurgen Damen, was killed at the hospital.

Rotterdam Police Department said a 32-year-old, who was a student at Erasmus University Medical Centre, has been arrested and is suspected of being involved in both incidents. A motive has not yet been established.

He has been named in Dutch media as Fouad L.

A man in camouflage was taken away from the hospital in handcuffs after specialist units swept onto the scene.

Police were not searching for a second shooter.

Videos posted online showed police instructing students, some wearing medical gowns, to run outside as heavily armed officers arrived at the scene.

A note inside the window of the university read 'we can't get out' in Dutch.
A note inside the window of the university read 'we can't get out' in Dutch. Picture: Alamy
Medical staff were spotted running out of the hospital.
Medical staff were spotted running out of the hospital. Picture: Alamy

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Fires broke out at both locations after the shootings occurred.

The Erasmus Medical Centre posted online: “Due to various incidents, we currently ask you not to come to Erasmus MC.”

Photos at the scene of the incident show a sign posted on the inside window of the university building which reads “we can’t get out” in Dutch.

Other images captured at the scene show medical staff running as they were rushed out the hospital building.

"This is a very dark day," caretaker Minister of Justice and Security Dilan Yesilgöz toldnewspaper de Telegraaf.

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