Last night, a teacher got shot & killed close to my house in Amsterdam. I happened to be on my way home on my bike when the shot was fired and saw the man drop to the ground, the shooter escaped on a moped. I was probably 250 metres away from the scene..... I called the police immediately but they had already been alarmed. I was too far away from it to be of use as a witness, others had been closer. Crazy fucked up world we live in.....The shooter is still on the run!

wow!

I read abt a man get shot in A'dam at nieuws.nl yesterday evening.

Crazy world we live in indeed

It was very amazing how fast police and medics were on the scene, the victim was still alive but died a bit later.
The guy was a teacher on the same school where last year some kid killed another kid during the break.....and then we had that fucked up school-shooting in Finland, on the same day!

I might be sound old but where is the time that arguments were handled by a simple hand fight

Sorry you had to witness that, mate. It seems guns are just easily accessible here in Holland these days, as opposed to 'the old days' Petra is refering to.

I don't know whether there was an argument.....I think this guy was ambushed, I believe the shooter had been waiting for him to take him out.....but what do I know? I kept my distance.....the sound of a firing gun gave me shivers!

Sometimes I wanna get out of Amsterdam... even though the only shoot-out I was ever involved in was in Rotterdam CS. Seems like a long time now...

oh my... so very sorry about that.

HamsterHuey said:

Actually this was the second time I witnessed something like this.....the first time was a couple of years ago when I saw the execution of this gangster on broad daylight on the Dam Square at the taxi-stand. They did catch that guy who did it. Amsterdam is weird.....yet I don't feel scared in the city.

Maybe this sounds silly but the fact that I have a son in the age of 20 kept me from getting mugged or harrased in my neighbourhood
I know these youngsters that are misbehaving now but in the past we took them to karate matches and school parties
Sad that despite the fact they had goodwilling parents and friends still turn out to be outlaws

abierman said:

I do not feel scared either. But it FEELS weird, being part of a huge organism where all this stuff happens. It's like a beehive gone crazy.

I miss the sounds, smells and tranquility of Blaricum, I must admit. I am getting old.

HamsterHuey said:

I always make sure I get out of the city every weekend. Both my parents and my sister live outside of Amsterdam (Vechtstreek, not too far but very nice!), and the golfclub as well as the hockeyclub are outside..... Always nice!

I wonder on what rank Amsterdam is in a 'Safe City Ranking'.....

abierman said:

I think A'dam bumped R'dam off the first place.

Wow, sorry to hear that .

Damn hun

I know the feeling ...

So fucked up...

so many whitnesses that somebody 250 m away was considered no use. it's too fucking easy to kill these days.

PREDOMINANT said:

True...I must admit that I stayed away from the scene until the police came, then I approached them to tell them what I saw.
This morning I read in the papers that the victim was known to the police, but not for major criminal offences.

Mach said:

Strangely enough, although I was shocked by what I've seen last night, it doesn't have any emotional effect on me, I slept just fine like any other night.....that kind of worries me.

HamsterHuey said:

and I don't feel scared either

Wow!! Why do people do things like that? Life is a gift, why do other's feel they must take that away.

Sorry you had to see such a sight.

abierman said:

MoniGram said:

Drugs, organized crime.....the internationally celebrated Dutch drug-policy of tolerance () takes its toll, and lately they don't do it backstage anymore! Ruthless killers (often imported from warstruck countries) strike on broad daylight and are checking in at the airport for their flights by the time the police arrives at the crimescene....
[Edited 9/24/08 5:57am]

I'm sorry you saw such a thing, Aksel.

Neither of the incidents you've witnessed seems random. I hope there's some comfort in that notion. It'd be much more disturbing perhaps if that teacher weren't known to the police and appeared to be some entirely unsuspecting fellow just strolling down the street.

Still, it's a horrible thing to have happen.

Yikes!
Be careful out there.

Aksel,

Everything you mentioned above I feel the exact same way... however, I do sleep thinking of all that occurs in our world today. It has left me a bit serious, perhaps too serious at times.

Guns and violence are far to easy to obtain, as I have said before... too many people, more and too many problems. It is not that times have completely changed due to violence but the amount of people engaging in these acts seem far too often... we are swarming with people everywhere and so it seems that more violence exists because people with major issues have multiplied, too many people facing the world with their issues at one time. Everywhere.

A beehive swarming with bees... seems like the majority of our world and finding those safe havens becoming more difficult. Heck, even small towns have their fair share of problems... Meth, more specifically.

I fear walking in my neighborhood, being a single woman... I wish I could enjoy a nice morning walk (and I did last week), the first time in I kid you not... nearly 8 years.

I dream of a beautiful place all the time... where unity exists. The nearest place I see this is my work (in my life), where day in and day out our Pediatric multidisciplinary team demonstrates an incredible amount of unity.

But the moment I get in my car... and drive home... I wish I was living in a different place, but would that be the difference I need? I ask myself this all the time... have been for years.

Can we all just get together like one big happy family. ~Smile.

living with an open heart is time commiting and difficult culturing through our so called everyday life, but it could always be worse, right. I know even with the horrible events that take place in our own city, rape, murder, abused and abandoned children, drugs, hunger, homelessness, robbery, litter, pollution... the list goes on....

I live a very fortunate life that I am grateful for. And I really hope my brother remains safe, happy and may we soon unite.

~Lock yourself up and make your own world. ~Smile. I do sometimes. Call me crazy.
[Edited 9/24/08 7:25am]

It's interesting how context makes a place feel comparatively safe or unsafe...

In 2007, there were 84 homicides here in Toronto vs. 135 in Cleveland. In 2006, there were 70 homicides in Toronto; 119 in Cleveland. This despite the fact Toronto is about 2.5 times larger than Cleveland.

And yet, perhaps because murder is more rare in Toronto, when it does happen here it seems extraordinarily egregious and threatening! News of a murder here rocks the city. News of a murder back home in Cleveland is upsetting, but only about as upsetting as word someone's car was stolen... and the ultimate effect is Toronto feels somehow more unsafe!

All told, I think the comparative sensitivity is a good thing. I think we sometimes lose sight of how precious life is -- and I'd much rather be hypersensitive to lesser threat to life than desensitized to greater threat.
[Edited 9/24/08 7:37am]

abierman said:

i'm sorry that you had to witness that man







i think if it was fully illegal here there would be even more crime surrounding it though, that would be a natural cause for sure

Dewrede said:

we're not turning this thread into a drugpolicy-discussion, but it is clear that the illegal trafficking of sofdrugs is way more appealing & profitable for organized crime than anything else because sofdrugs are 'tolerated' by our idiotic Dutch double standards.

Softdrugs is where the big money is and therefore the crimescene.....

Anyways, there's is no news yet whether last night's events have to do with this....