A man attacked and killed one person, and also severely wounded another, in the Dutch city of Rotterdam last night. According to eyewitnesses, the suspect screamed “Allahu akbar” during the attack. Now, prosecutors say the man is suspected of terrorism.
Police arrested the suspect, who was also injured and transported to the hospital.
Police spokesman Wessel Stolle said officers were investigating the attack near the Erasmus Bridge, a major landmark in the city. Stolle said at the time that it was still unclear if there was a motive for the attacks, but new information indicates that the man is suspected of committing a terror attack.
The Rotterdam Public Prosecution Service released a statement that investigations uncovered “indications that the suspect may be ideologically driven.” So far, the man’s name has not been released.
“For example, the suspect shouted Allahu akbar a number of times while committing the crimes,” the statement read.
Reniël Renato David Litecia, a physical education teacher, said he hit the attacker with two sticks after seeing him attack someone. He also managed to grab the knives away from the man. At first, he thought it was a fight, “but when I ran in that direction, I saw that it was not a fight. It was a man with two long knives who was stabbing another young man, and when I started screaming he turned around and started attacking everyone around him.”
The stabbing attack left a 32-year-old man from Rotterdam dead and a 33-year-old man from Switzerland with serious wounds who has since left the hospital.
Prosecutors also stated that the man has previous convictions for violent crimes.
Neighboring Germany has been beset by a wave of Islamic attacks in recent months, including a police officer murdered in a knife attack in Mannheim, a shooting in Munich, and a triple stabbing murder at Solingen’s Festival of Diversity.
