Amsterdam: A gunman opened fire with a machine gun at a crowded shopping mall outside Amsterdam on Saturday, leaving at least seven people dead and wounding 15 others, officials and witnesses said.
The attacker was among the dead after fatally shooting himself at the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, Mayor Bas Eenhoorn said. The suburb is less than 15 miles (25 kilometers) southwest of Amsterdam.
Seven people were killed and at least 15 injured in a shooting incident at a shopping mall in the Dutch town of Alphen aan den Rijn on Saturday, the town's mayor told reporters.
"A man with an automatic weapon, whose identity we cannot reveal, started shooting and killed five people and then himself," mayor Bas Eenhoorn told reporters. "Four people were very badly injured, five mildly wounded, and at least two slightly injured."
Eenhoorn called the shooting "unprecedented" and said there were a large number of people in the shopping center when the shootings occurred.
Police officials were not immediately available for comment.
The gunman had blond hair and was about 25 years old, Dutch public broadcaster NOS reported, citing eye witnesses.
Dutch ANP news agency quoted a pet shop owner in the mall as saying the gunman emptied an automatic weapon at nearby people and then shot himself in the head.
Alphen aan den Rijn, with a population of 72,000, is 46 km south of Amsterdam.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, April 10, 2011, 00:17