Lone gunman shoots six dead in Dutch shopping mall

A lone gunman shot dead six people with an automatic weapon as he walked calmly through a Dutch shopping mall on Saturday, witnesses and authorities said, before turning the gun on himself.
Ten people were wounded by the gunman when he began firing in a parking lot then moved inside a shopping centre in the small Dutch town of Alphen aan den Rijn, a town 46 km south of Amsterdam.
Public prosecutor Kitty Nooy said the gunman, who came from the town, was known to police and "almost certainly operated alone". His background was under investigation, she added.
Panicked shoppers ran for cover or hid in shops as the gunman opened fire.
"I saw a woman I know walking at the other side. She wanted to enter a shop when a tall young man approached and shot her in cold blood. He walked calmly and shot through the windows of the shop where I was hiding," Marjolein Nieuwland told the ANP news agency.
"I also saw a woman in her motorised wheelchair shot in the head, and at the Albert Heijn (grocery store) there was a young man. Also dead. Later I heard that was the shooter," she told the news agency.
Regional police chief Jan Stikvoort said shots were still being fired when officers arrived at the scene shortly after the gunman opened fire around midday.
"You can imagine, a lot of people, a lot of panic, a lot of people needing to be taken care of," he said.
One shop owner told NOS TV: "Some people were running to the exit, shouting 'shots, shots'. I saw two people lying on the floor as a young man was approaching. He was white, about 25, 26 years old with curly hair.
"He was wearing camouflage pants. I saw him get a new (ammunition) case and reload his weapon."
The town's mayor Bas Eenhoorn told reporters that a number of children had been shot by the gunman, but he did not know if any had been killed.
Photographer Hedske Vochteloo, who arrived shortly after the shooting began, saw one body lying on the parking lot.
"Witnesses said he (the gunman) arrived in a dark blue Mercedes and started shooting at random while still on the parking lot. He entered the shopping mall and continued shooting and killed himself inside," she said.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a statement he was "horrified" at the incident.
"My thoughts are with victims, survivors, and all who have been involved in this tragedy," he said.
Queen Beatrix sent a message of condolence at a "terrible situation," Eenhoorn told reporters.