Wild shootout on Dutch highway leads to three arrests and full police investigation

Not your average drive home

A seemingly ordinary Thursday evening drive took an unexpected turn when Breda local Robbie Thijssen witnessed shots being fired from one car to another.

Thijssen was driving along the A59 between Nieuwkuijk and Drunen when a black Kia suddenly cut him off at high speed.

Feeling a bit miffed, he told Omroep Brabant that he “turned on [his] high beams and chased after it.”

From high-speed chase to shootout

However, this little bit of road rage was soon to be dramatically overshadowed, as a large black car came tearing down the emergency lane.

In response, the Kia started weaving between cars before finally hitting a guardrail and coming to a stop just before the highway overpass.

Meanwhile, the black speedster “stayed on the road, and someone shot a pistol into the Kia,” Thijssen recounted. Shortly after the shots were fired, this car fled the scene and hasn’t been seen since.

Instead of driving away from the chaos, Thijssen parked his car in front of the damaged Kia.

But before he could check on the three men in the Kia, yet another car entered the picture: a white Golf.

This attempt at intimidation ended in fisticuffs

“A man got out and opened the trunk [of the crashed Kia] to look for something,” Thijssen told Omroep Brabant. “I think it was a bag of drugs or money.”

When the suspect from the white Golf told Thijssen to clear off, claiming he had nothing to do with it, the witness wasn’t having any of it.

“I said, ‘F**k off,’ and punched him in the face,” Thijssen recalled, still buzzing with adrenaline. His reasoning? “If they’d run over a family with children…” Well, fair enough.

A police investigation is still ongoing

The A59 was closed for hours while police investigated the scene, complete with a helicopter circling overhead in the Waalwijk area.

A large-scale forensic investigation has also been launched, though police can’t yet comment on whether this was a criminal dispute.

Both cars — Thijssen’s and the damaged Kia — have been impounded as evidence.

According to RTL Nieuws, the Kia’s three occupants have since been arrested by police for their involvement in the shooting. The actual shooter and the occupants of the white Golf, however, remain at large.

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Liana Risseeuw 🇱🇰
Liana Risseeuw 🇱🇰
Liana juggles her role as an Editor with wrapping up a degree in cognitive linguistics and assisting with DutchReview's affiliate portfolio. Since arriving in the Netherlands for her studies in 2018, she's thrilled to have the 'write' opportunity to help other internationals feel more at home here — whether that's by penning an article on the best SIMs to buy in NL, the latest banking features, or important things to know about Dutch health insurance.

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