A 27-year-old gunman who held several hostages in a Central Amsterdam Apple store was overpowered after a long siege. Police forces have confirmed that the hostages were all rescued and there were no casualties. Once apprehended, the criminal decided to flee, only to be run over by a police vehicle.

After demanding 200 million euros in cryptocurrency, the gunman — who was armed with a submachine gun — held one hostage at gunpoint, while others managed to escape.

How Did The Dutch Police Take Action?

According to local police, they were first alerted of the crisis on Tuesday evening (5:40 PM). Local broadcaster AT5 swooped in to cover the situation, with witnesses saying they heard gunshots. “I had to run for my life,” one witness was quoted as saying.

As the situation escalated into a hostage crisis, they deployed several ‘special units’ to “get the situation under control.” This likely referred to Dienst Speciale Interventies (DSI) operatives — the elite police tactical unit of the Dutch National Police Corps — who were spotted by civilians:

Finally, as the situation was gradually brought under control, civilians shared footage of the car crash mentioned above. The police vehicle that smashed into the fleeing suspect was an armored BMW X5. Weighing over 2 tons in its standard configuration, it’s no wonder that the camouflage-geared criminal seemed to be knocked unconscious on impact. After this, the police trained a laser-equipped gun on him, sent over a robot to check him for explosives, confirmed there were none, and then transported him to a nearby hospital.

As far as motives go, the Amsterdam police are currently investigating. According to them, the suspect “sent selfies and other photos to AT5, which indicated that he perhaps was wearing a bomb vest,” prompting the police to use their robotic companion.

Apple has not made any statement on the incident as of Wednesday.

(Featured Image Credits: Twitter/ANP)