Second death from police violence on Aruba: shooting involving psychiatric patient
A 36-year-old man died on Tuesday after Aruban officers shot him at psychiatric clinic Respaldo. It is the second fatality from police violence in less than a year.
Aruban police shoot dead psychiatric clinic patient
Caribischnetwerk.ntr.nl reports that Aruban police shot a 36-year-old man on Tuesday at psychiatric clinic Respaldo in Pos Abou. The man died shortly afterwards in hospital.
Police responded to a call from the clinic about an aggressive patient. Officers attempted to calm the man multiple times upon arrival and ordered him to lay down the machete he was holding. This had no effect.
In a statement from the Aruba Police Corps: "Given the serious and dangerous situation between the police officer and the patient, police found themselves compelled to draw their service weapon and fired, with the patient being struck." The Aruba-born man was taken by ambulance to hospital, where he died.
The case has been transferred to the Landsrecherche, the agency that investigates cases involving police officers.
Previous case: Ayden Lanoy
The incident follows the death of 19-year-old Ayden Lanoy on 9 February 2025. Officers shot him twenty times after he drove through a police stop due to a broken rear light. His death and the failure to immediately arrest the officers involved led to widespread public unrest, protest marches under the banner "Justice for Ayden" and a petition demanding, among other things, bodycams for all officers.
Two officers have been formally accused in that case of attempted manslaughter and attempted serious assault. The trial will be heard in February. During a case management hearing in November of last year it was determined that Lanoy's parents and girlfriend would be recognised as bereaved parties, giving them speaking rights.
The Aruba Police Corps expressed its condolences on Tuesday evening to the relatives of the man who died on Tuesday.
Source: Google News AW — Crime