Car hits crowd watching Dutch queen, kills 4
APELDOORN, Netherlands (AP) — A Dutch driver careened through police barriers and plowed into a crowd of merrymakers cheering and waving at their popular queen on Thursday, in a premeditated assault that killed four people and injured 13 others, authorities said.
The speeding car, already dented apparently from catapulting bystanders into the air, passed within a few meters of the open-topped bus carrying Queen Beatrix and her family down a parade route, then smashed into a stone monument.
“I think that it has become clear that this happened with premeditation,” Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said.
Neither he nor law enforcement agencies would give a motive. But Dutch media, citing neighbors, said the assailant recently was fired from his job and was to be evicted from his home. Police identified him as a 38-year-old Dutch man with no history of mental illness or police record, but they would not release his name.
Officials in Apeldoorn said the driver had a map of the queen’s route.
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Shortly after the crash, investigators and a sniffer dog examined the car for explosives, then sliced off the roof of the car for a closer inspection......
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