Two Syrian boys shot dead in park

On New Year's Day 2026 two Syrian teenagers were killed in a shooting in the Piet Wiedijkpark in Amsterdam Nieuw-West, triggered — according to prosecutors — by a prank phone call that spiralled out of control. A YouTuber called 25-year-old Efe Y. for a so-called prank call, which prosecutors say had been commissioned by two of Y.'s cousins. During the call the argument escalated to the point where Y. challenged the caller to come to the blue bridge in the park. There he fired at three boys aged 16, 17 and 18. Sixteen-year-old Mohammad Nor and eighteen-year-old Mohammed Al Mukrasi did not survive; the seventeen-year-old was wounded. They had nothing to do with the conflict and were, in the prosecution's words, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Public Prosecution Service relies on camera footage showing Y.'s distinctive limping gait, on phone data, and on messages in which he wrote that he would "shoot" men; his phone contained 5,354 images of firearms, ammunition and knives. The defence disputes that Y. has been established as the shooter: it argues the description is too vague, the weapon was never found despite several house searches, and the prosecution is suffering from tunnel vision. At the pro forma hearing of 22 April 2026 the court extended his pre-trial detention. Y. suffers from schizophrenia and PTSD and is believed to have acted during a psychotic episode; he is being assessed at the Pieter Baan Centrum. At a second hearing on 8 July 2026 it emerged that the cousins, questioned as witnesses, have admitted paying for the call; they say it was meant as a joke. Prosecutors suspect Y. believed he was being approached by hitmen: in 2022 he had reported that two men entered his home and demanded money from him. Ten days after the shooting Y. allegedly asked someone on Instagram to harm one of his cousins. The next day he was admitted to the Pieter Baan Centrum. A further preliminary hearing is set for 25 September 2026; the full trial is expected in early 2027.