Apple Store hostage and four others receive hero pin
On Thursday, Mayor Femke Halsema of Amsterdam honored five people who had to endure the hostage situation in the Apple Store on Leidseplein in February. It concerns the man from Bulgaria who was held at gunpoint by the hostage-taker for a long time and four people who hid for hours in a closet. Halsema gave them a hero pin.
“On behalf of all Amsterdammers, I thanked them for their courage and decisiveness,” Halsema writes on Instagram. According to the mayor, the whole country sympathized with the Bulgarian, who decided “in a split second” during the hostage situation to run away when he had to collect the water that the hostage-taker had asked for in front of the store. The 27-year-old suspect from Amsterdam then ran after him and was then hit by the police. He died a day later from his injuries.
“His heroic act is incredibly brave, even if he doesn’t see himself as a hero,” writes Halsema about the Bulgarian, who, like the other four, wishes to remain anonymous. According to Halsema, they too were courageous. “Despite their plight, they were able to pass on important information about the hostage situation to the police.”
During the hostage situation, the hostage-taker fired at the police, among other things, and threatened to blow himself up. He demanded 200 million euros in cryptocurrencies and safe conduct from the property. About 70 people hiding in the building were taken to safety by the police during and after the hostage crisis.