Dutch police said on Tuesday they sent special units to a central square in Amsterdam after a gunman took one or more people hostage at an Apple store there.
Several video clips on broadcaster AT5’s website show a man in a store at gunpoint.
Amsterdam Police tweeted, “There is a person in the shop with a gun… Police forces are at the scene with several units and specialist units to control the situation.”
“We are restricting information about the status of the Apple Store … so as not to disturb our investigation and efforts there,” he said. He later confirmed the situation was hostage-taking, without specifying how many hostages there were.
The police vacated the square and asked the neighbors not to come to stay inside and look outside.
The Apple Store is located at one end of the upscale Leidseplein, a square on the south side of Amsterdam’s center.
The largest city in the Netherlands saw four armed robberies of mobile phone stores in 2021, prompting some stores to remove most of their phone supplies, which were being targeted. However, none of the robberies took place in the center of the city.
Gun violence is not uncommon in the Netherlands, but hostage-taking is extremely rare.
In 2015, a man with a gun broke into a TV studio demanding screen time. No one was injured and the man was later convicted of hostage-taking.
And in 2002 a gunman took hostage in an office building he mistakenly believed to be Philips Electronics. He killed himself and did not harm any of the hostages.
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