HOLLAND – Officers responding to a reported brawl in the Noord-Holland town of Laren said they were forced to shoot one of the people involved in the fight. It happened shortly after police arrived at the scene, police said.
“When the officers wanted to intervene, some suspects turned against the police,” the police department said in a statement. “One of the officers was attacked in such a way that he had to pull the service weapon and then shoot the assailant.”
Both the officer involved in the shooting and the wounded suspect were hospitalized. The latter was arrested for his involvement, along with two other men, police said.
The first report of the fight was received by police dispatch at about 8:30 p.m. Within 20 minutes, authorities had also dispatched two ambulances and a trauma helicopter to Cafe Het Bonte Paard on the Naarderstraat in Laren.
Both an investigation into the brawl and an internal investigation into the officer’s use of lethal force are ongoing.
Police said an officer is only allowed to fire their service weapon in situations where the force is “in proportion to the situation and the crime.” It was not immediately clear what methods police tried Sunday night to de-escalate the situation.
