March 30, 2024 at 9:14 PM Other
EDE The suspect arrested for the hostage situation in café de Petticoat in Ede is a 28-year-old man from Ede. He is well known to the judiciary: he was also convicted last year for making a threat. The man was arrested on Museumplein on Saturday followingnoon and is now in custody.
Four employees were held captive in the cafe in the center of Ede for hours on Saturday morning. According to the police, the first report of the hostage situation came in around 5:15 am. That was following a party organized in the café. Officers were said to have arrived on the scene in two minutes.
The hostage taker allegedly showed knives to the victims. It was also taken into account that he also had an explosive in his backpack – only followingwards it turned out that this was not the case.
CHARGED
Three hostages were released around half past twelve, followed an hour later by the fourth person. Almost simultaneously, the suspect walked outside and was arrested.
The police cordoned off a large part of the center of Ede and there was a massive presence, including the Defense Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service (EOD) and the Mobile Unit (ME). The Special Interventions Service (DSI) arrested the suspected hostage taker.
VALUATION
The residents of 150 homes in Ede had to leave their homes on Saturday morning and were accommodated elsewhere.
On social media, outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte expresses “great respect and appreciation” for the police, emergency services and the Special Interventions Service who “managed to bring to a successful end” the hostage situation on Saturday morning in Ede.
IMPACT
Mayor René Verhulst said in a statement that he is “tremendously relieved” that the hostage situation has “come to a successful conclusion”. “Everything that happened today will have a huge impact on the victims. I would like to wish them and their families much strength and support in the coming period to deal with all of this. Where we can, we will support them.
Petticoat will remain closed until at least following Easter. “We as Team Petticoat have ended up in a horrible film,” the café said in a statement on Instagram. “We need the coming days for processing.”
Source: ANP/Ede Stad
For the latest updates on the incident in Ede, follow the reporting from www.edestad.nl
