The 18-year-old youth who died after being dumped outside a Zoetermeer hospital with gun shot wounds was shot by police, investigators confirmed on Friday.

The teenager, named by Dutch media as Wessel, is now known to be the son of a police officer and appears to have been involved in a shooting incident at a cannabis cafe in Delft earlier on October 8, the public prosecution department said.

The shooting happened when a police officer saw two young men on a moped pull up outside The Game cannabis cafe. One got off and pointed what looked like a weapon at the cafe, at which point the police officer intervened and opened fire.

The two suspects got away but 45 minutes later, one youth, named as Wessel, was left outside the Lange Land hospital with serious injuries. He later died.

Telephone information, surveillance camera images and eye witnesses put the youth firmly in front of The Game cannabis cafe, the investigators found.

Delft has been hit by a string of violent incidents this year. In June, three people were arrested in connection with a series of shootings and a grenade attack in which a coffee shop, tanning studio, jewellery store and clothes shop came under fire.

Police believe the incidents, which all took place in the early morning, may be linked to a gangland turf war.