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IndependentOct 03, 2023
An Erasmus University student killed a 14-year-old girl and her mother in their home before opening fire at Erasmus Medical Center and killing a lecturer in the Dutch city of Rotterdam on Thursday.
The 32-year-old suspect, reportedly wearing combat gear and a bullet-proof vest, was taken into custody near the Medical Center. His motive for the twin shooting remains unclear.
Thursday's egregiously violent act is the Netherlands' first mass shooting in a decade, making it an anomaly in a country with some of the world's strictest gun laws. The twin shooting in Rotterdam is undoubtedly a tragedy, but any correlation to "mass shooting trends" should be taken cautiously.
The shocking surge in gun violence in the Netherlands is a reminder that persistent sadness or hopelessness often pushes people toward mass violence. Dutch society must pay attention to its youth's underlying mental health issues to ensure the country does not undergo such trauma again.