Local residents were shocked by the large-scale action. “It’s always such a quiet neighborhood here,” says Clavo Remeeus, who is just walking his dogs. He lives right across from where the police were lined up last night.
“They were there,” he points to a strip of greenery with a gazebo along the edge of the forest. “There were some police cars and a van and I even saw a police dog.” He also noticed the helicopter that kept circling over the forest. “But I have no idea how it ended.”
Ineke Westra is just walking out of the woods with her four-legged friend. Everyone was standing outside, she said. “It raised a lot of questions. Nobody knew exactly what was going on. Yes, that makes it exciting.” She is startled by the possibility that a firearm was involved. “Gosh, I also walked outside with the dog yesterday”, she thinks.
Omar Youssif, a local resident who also had a direct view of the search, heard that a firearm was allegedly aimed at a woman in the neighborhood. “But that’s all I understood.”
Another neighbour, Frank van Os, did not receive anything, but is not surprised. “Something often happens here. I have had new neighbors three or four times in my area recently. I am used to police in the streets.”