Rotterdam student charged with murder and arson over shootings

The man accused of shooting dead three people in Rotterdam on Thursday has appeared in court charged with murder, arson and illegal firearms possession.

Fouad L., 32, was arrested at the Erasmus Medical Centre teaching hospital after armed police surrounded the building, where he is alleged to have murdered 43-year-old lecturer Jurgen Damen and set fire to a classroom.

Shortly beforehand a 39-year-old woman and her 14-year-old daughter were fatally wounded in a shooting at a house on Heiman Dullaertplein. L. is accused of killing them before setting fire to his own house next door.

Prosecutors released no further details about the investigation into the shootings during the hearing at Rotterdam district court on Wednesday.

An investigating magistrate ordered L. to be detained in custody for another 14 days and banned him from having contact with anyone other than his lawyer.

The shootings shocked Rotterdam and the rest of the Netherlands, where confrontations with guns are rare outside the criminal underworld.

King Willem-Alexander visited the city on Monday to speak to fire and ambulance staff who responded to the emergency, as well as healthcare workers at the hospital.

L. is believed to have targeted his neighbour, named as Marlous, after she reported him to the housing association for abusing his pets, which resulted in a conviction for animal cruelty in 2021.

The medical student also wrote long posts on the networking site 4Chan in which he claimed that the staff at Erasmus teaching hospital were conspiring to prevent him from qualifying as a doctor.

The university had asked him to undergo a psychiatric examination after being warned about him by the public prosecution department, but L failed to comply.

Earlier this week it emerged he was on the verge of being evicted from his home after failing to pay rent and building up arrears of €3,100 with housing corporation Woonbron.