April 2, 2024 at 8:41 AM
Hostage Court in Ede
EDE (ANP) The suspect of the hostage situation in Ede will be brought before the examining magistrate of the Gelderland court today. The judge determines whether the 28-year-old man from Ede will remain in pre-trial detention for fourteen days longer.
The man is suspected of taking four employees of Café Petticoat hostage in the center of Ede on Saturday morning. The police were alerted around 5:30 am that a hostage situation was taking place in the café on Nieuwe Stationsstraat. The suspect showed knives to the hostages and said he had explosives in a bag. The latter turned out to be untrue, no explosives were found.
MEETING FOR RESIDENTS
Due to the hostage situation, the center of Ede was cordoned off for hours and 125 homes were evacuated. There will be a meeting for local residents on Tuesday evening in the municipality’s town hall. The residents’ meeting is intended to answer any questions residents may have and to talk about what happened, Mayor René Verhulst wrote in the invitation.
The hostage situation lasted for hours. Three of the four hostages were released around 11:15 am. Just after 12:30 p.m., the fourth hostage came out. The suspect followed a few minutes later and was immediately arrested.
MOTIVE STILL UNCLEAR
The police have not released anything about the man’s motive. However, the police have said that they are not considering a terrorist motive. The victims said in a statement that they did not know him. According to sources from the Gelderlander, the suspect has psychological problems and was receiving treatment at a mental health clinic. Spokespeople for the police and the Public Prosecution Service do not want to confirm this.
Read all our publications about the hostage situation in Café Petticoat in our file (click here).
