Research confirms mistakes surrounding deadly drama at Solid Grooves festival: “Too few security guards”

Festival organizer ID&T confirms that too many tickets were sold and there were too few security guards at the Solid Grooves festival last May. ID&T wrote this in a statement. At the festival on the Donauweg, 21-year-old Jimmy Schepers was stabbed to death during a fight.

According to ID&T, the final report ‘confirms that the facts and circumstances that also led to the decision to replace management. Apenkooi sold substantially more tickets than was permitted and there was also insufficient operational scale-up.’ In other words: there were too few security guards for the number of visitors. At the party on Donauweg in the Western Docklands, a total of 7,500 tickets were scanned at the door, while a maximum of 5,000 visitors were allowed.

The statement states that, according to ID&T, the final report confirms that the facts and circumstances have led to the replacement of management. Apenkooi sold more tickets than permitted and there were not enough security guards for that number of visitors. ID&T does not respond to questions from AT5.

‘Unacceptable’

The company writes that it is ‘unacceptable that the operational standards and norms that visitors and the municipality can expect from us have not been met. The conclusions drawn from the research have now been shared with those directly involved and with the municipality of Amsterdam. ‘It is now up to us to ensure that this does not happen again in the future. Various recommendations, together with permit conditions specified by the municipality of Amsterdam, have been implemented in our business operations.’

21-year-old Jimmy was at the Solid Grooves festival with his group of friends at the end of May when a big fight broke out around 9 p.m. Schepers’ group of friends was attacked by another group of young men, with whom there had also been a confrontation earlier. When Jimmy Schepers tried to calm the argument, he was kicked, punched and stabbed several times with a knife. He tried to escape the violence, but it was already too late. Jimmy died of his injuries in the AMC.

Other festival

Three young Amsterdammers have so far been arrested for the stabbing at Solid Grooves, of whom the Public Prosecution Service appoints Derzik H. as the main suspect. The three are suspected of complicity in manslaughter, attempted manslaughter, public violence, theft with violence and extortion. Derzik H. is also suspected of involvement in a stabbing at another festival.

Derzik H. was previously linked to the stabbing at a dance party in Zaandam, three weeks before the tragedy at the Solid Grooves festival in which Schepers was killed. Three men, including G., were stopped. At the festival the men allegedly wanted to rob a Briton of his glasses.

Relatives of Jimmy Schepers

At the end of last year, AT5 spoke to Jimmy’s parents, sisters and brother about the loss. “Now it’s really sinking in, I’m never going to see him again. I’m never going to experience him again and I’m never going to hear his voice again. And that is impossible, that is really impossible,” father Jan Schepers said at the time.