Elco Gjaltema (37) shot dead in front of his home on Oostelijke Handelskade

Elco Gjaltema, a 36-year-old man from Amsterdam, was shot dead on Wednesday evening, 17 February 2016, on Oostelijke Handelskade in Amsterdam-Oost, close to Club Panama. He had been active as a BMX rider, ran his own fashion business and lived near the place where he was killed. At around 22:45, he had just come outside and got into his car when he was deliberately shot at close range. Bystanders tried to resuscitate him, but he died at the scene from his injuries. His girlfriend was nearby inside their home at the time and heard the shots. Shortly after the murder, she said she believed Elco had been the victim of a mistaken identity, because she knew him as a much-loved man with many friends and could not see why anyone would want to kill him. Police initially kept several scenarios open, but later stated that the killing had not been a case of mistaken identity. According to police, Elco Gjaltema himself was the target and he was active in the criminal circuit. After the shooting, the perpetrators probably fled in a distinctive white Audi A6 with white Danish licence plates. The car had been rented earlier that month at Copenhagen Airport and driven to the Netherlands via Hamburg. Shortly after the liquidation, a burning Audi A6 was found in Duivendrecht, on Poldermolen. Because the car was quickly extinguished, police were able to secure forensic traces, including a plastic bottle that was probably used to set the car on fire. Investigators believed the perpetrators may then have switched to another vehicle, possibly a dark Fiat or Peugeot. The motive remained unclear for a long time. Later media reports suggested that Gjaltema may have been held responsible for a failed drug transport to England, in which a shipment of drugs never reached its destination. According to that scenario, he had acted as an intermediary between a drug gang and the transporter, after which he was suspected of involvement in the disappearance of the shipment. Police later confirmed that he was active in the criminal circuit, but did not publicly establish a definitive motive. As far as is known, no one has been convicted for the murder of Elco Gjaltema. The shooter, any accomplices and the person who ordered the killing have never been definitively established. The case therefore remained an unsolved liquidation on Oostelijke Handelskade, in which a man known by those around him as sociable and well-liked was, according to police, deliberately targeted and shot dead.