“I find it very difficult to be here on Leidseplein again,” says Alex Manuputty a year after the hostage-taking in the Apple Store. Where February 22, 2022 starts as an average working day, ends in a nightmare. An armed man enters the store around 5:30 pm and takes a Bulgarian man hostage. Alex hides in a closet with three customers and is terrified.
Alex looks with AT5 back on the horrific evening, he was locked in the closet for hours. With the hostage-taker only a few meters away: “Pure panic. Fortunately, we immediately had contact with the police and I went to talk to him. A customer who was also in the closet listened to the hostage-taker and described everything “, he says today.
The hostage
The hostage-taker – a 27-year-old Amsterdammer – holds a customer of the store at gunpoint for hours. He demands 200 million in crypto , a safe conduct and sends apps to AT5’s tip linebut eventually has to pay for it with death.
Alex returns home physically unscathed, but the evening has far-reaching consequences for the Amsterdammer. “I’m standing here with a lot of emotions and I’m scared. I want to look around to see what’s happening. For example, when I hear that siren. I also want to see what’s coming next,” he points to a car from municipal cleaning on the square.