Dutch Supreme Court: Police liable in deadly mall shooting

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The Netherlands’ highest court has ruled that police are liable for damages suffered by victims of a deadly shooting in a Dutch shopping mall because they granted a weapons permit to the shooter despite him having a history of mental illness.

Friday’s Supreme Court ruling upholds a lower court’s earlier decision that police were wrong to issue a gun license to Tristan van der Vlis because he was known to have psychological problems.

Van der Vlis shot and killed six people and injured 17 more at a shopping centre in Alphen aan den Rijn on April 9, 2011, before killing himself.

Police say in a statement that the ruling “has possible consequences for how police will handle applications for weapons permits in the future.”