For Albert Verlinde, the hostage drama in the Apple Store came very close. He heard the sirens of the police from his house and he is friends with a few employees who were free.
The nearly six-hour hostage-taking in the Apple Store in Amsterdam caused a lot of unrest last night. For many people it was extremely traumatic. For example, four victims of the drama hid for hours in a closet on the ground floor. For Albert Verlinde it all came very close.
Tough for Albert
For Albert, it was almost as if it happened in his living room. He lives a ten-minute walk from the Apple Store, about 900 meters away. “I live almost around the corner, I live at the Vondelpark, so at a certain point it is very restless,” said the show expert of Shownieuws.
What a horrible thing to say. How did Albert experience this? “You hear a lot of helicopters flying over and only sirens from police cars, fire trucks and everything. But the worst thing, to be honest, is that I know some guys who work in that business. Then you immediately think: are they still there? Do you understand.”
Friends were free
And, were Albert’s friends still in that closet on the ground floor? No, they were free. “I got a message fairly quickly from one of them saying: ‘I’m not on duty tonight, I’m home, but some other colleagues are’, and another friend of mine who asked his brother on Facebook: ‘Are you d’r?’”
Initially there was no response. “That’s pretty intense. I’ve been thinking about that all night. Fortunately, it ended well, but it is intense.”
‘Here, now drive!!!’
Albert thinks that the police have done a very good job by hitting the hostage-taker. “It’s real teamwork. When they come running out, they have to say, ‘Here! Drive now!!!!’”
Private boss Evert Sankrediets is also lyrically enthusiastic: “It is really very good! (…) I love our police! (…) Where do those police come from all of a sudden… That we have so many surprises me every time! Congratulations to those who put an end to this in this way.”