Police in Rotterdam are investigating a shooting incident in which a bystander was hit in the leg by a police bullet, the AD reports on Friday.

The shooting happened when a suspect was chased onto a busy café terrace by several police officers, one of whom opened fire as the café customers ducked for cover. The shots hit both the suspect and a bystander.

‘This could have been much worse,’ Rotterdammer Jurjen Adamson told the paper. ‘It was very careless to shoot when the suspect did not look exactly dangerous’.

The shooting took place last Friday when the café terrace was ringed by dozens of police officers with their guns out.

‘When the officers shouted “gun, gun”, everyone dropped to the ground, we all fell over each other,’ Adamson told the AD. ‘At that moment, the police fired three times.’

The suspect was hit in the back, the AD says. No further information about the suspect has been released, other than that he is a 25-year-old homeless man.

Threat

According to the police statement, the suspect had threatened people in the café but Adamson, who is unable to work as a scaffolder because of an injury, says that is ‘nonsense’.

Police have declined to comment on the case, which is being investigated.

Dutch police have been in several high profile shooting cases recently. This week, two officers were found guilty of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter for shooting a suspect in the back but will not go to jail.

Last month, a police officer was jailed for two years for shooting at a passenger in a getaway car. He recovered from his injuries. The police are appealing against that sentence.