Fighting and shooting men, in the middle of the street. And in broad daylight, early this year. Local residents on Philipslaan in Roosendaal saw this to their great dismay. The alleged shooter remained out of the hands of the police for months, but was nevertheless caught. On Wednesday he appeared in court in Breda for the first time.
The shooting took place on March 3 in the Philipslaan in Roosendaal, in the Kalsdonk district. Five men hit each other with baseball bats and threw bricks. Shots were also fired. A 19-year-old man was injured by a bullet in his hip.
Spain
The suspected shooter Fouad el M. (32) fled and went into hiding. A few weeks after the shooting, the police arrested two other men, brothers of Fouad. Fouad himself remained under the radar for months. But he was tracked down in Spain and handed over to Dutch authorities in July.
The man, who is officially registered in Breda, has been charged with attempted murder or manslaughter. If this cannot be proven, then it is open violence by crashing and shooting, the public prosecutor said at the first public hearing on Wednesday. It lasted barely fifteen minutes.
Beard
Fouad appeared in a gray sweater, sweatpants and sneakers. He has a beard. He did not have one in March, as can be seen in the images taken at that time. The man didn’t want to say anything.
Fouad’s lawyer did not ask for release from pre-trial detention. He just wants to hear four witnesses, sometime in the near future. The officer and the court agreed.
Brothers
Those four witnesses are the other men who were there on the street that day. Both Fouad brothers and both M brothers. One of them suffered a gunshot wound. He is represented by a lawyer, but he did not speak on Wednesday.
Both of Fouad’s brothers are also suspects. It concerns Aziz and Adil.
Aziz was quickly released after his arrest because his role seems limited and he probably knew nothing about the firearm that his brother Fouad had with him. The other suspect, Adil, was detained a little longer but was also allowed to go home earlier.
Punishment in Belgium
At the short hearing it was announced that Fouad el M. still has an outstanding ‘residual sentence’ in Belgium. Reportedly not that much, but enough for the Belgians to demand his extradition. A lawsuit will follow. It is unknown what Fouad was punished for.
The investigation is finished. The process will continue in mid-January, also at an interim hearing.
It is still unclear why shots were fired. Everything indicates that it is a quarrel between two families that was fought out in the street by several brothers. But what that was about is unknown and in any case not yet discussed at an interim hearing.
Roosendaal was shocked by shootings more often this year. At the beginning of this year there was a failed rip deal that ended in an accident with fatalities on the A16. Later there was a shooting on the Diamantdijk. All this led to extra security measures in the city, including body searches.
These are the images of the shooting on the street: