Nijmegen streets sealed off over gunfire report after Overasselt

Armed police sealed off several streets in eastern Nijmegen on Monday evening after residents reported hearing what sounded like automatic gunfire. It turned out to be a false alarm, a week after the deadly attack in nearby Overasselt.

Officers ordered people around the Hengstdalseweg to stay indoors and out of sight, a police helicopter came in and the DSI special intervention unit of heavily armed police was called in. Police later said they had found no evidence that any shots had actually been fired.

“We are extra alert to reports like this at the moment,” a spokesperson told regional broadcaster Omroep Gelderland. A spokesperson told news agency ANP that the scale of the response was linked to the attack in Overasselt, roughly 10 kilometres to the south, in which two police officers were hit.

Belgian arrest
Police said on Sunday that a 26-year-old Belgian national had been arrested in Amsterdam on Friday in connection with the attack, bringing the total number of arrests to 35. Two people released earlier remain suspects.

Specialist teams backed by riot police are continuing to search Overasselt and the surrounding area for evidence.

Previous convictions
Several of the men being held have previous convictions for firearms offences, kidnapping and fraud, the AD reported on Monday, citing the list of suspects brought before an examining magistrate on Friday. Police declined to comment on the report to broadcaster NOS.

One 23-year-old from Amsterdam was jailed for four years after firing on a house in Antwerp in 2022, the AD said. The intended target was a relative of kickboxer Jamal Ben Saddik, but the gunmen hit the wrong address.

A second Amsterdam man was given 15 months, six of them suspended, for kidnapping and robbing an elderly man at gunpoint in 2024. A third, aged 20, appeared in court over a shooting late that year and is suspected of firing the fatal shots in Overasselt, according to the paper. Prosecutors have not said who they believe pulled the trigger.