mon 02 mar 2009 08:13:27 — witte de withstraat
dead dagastan "bekende"
het parool: last monday night a few blocks north of here, a 38 year old guy named namuk dagastan got shot to death in his car. it happened on cornelis dirkszstraat, just on the far side of jan evertsen. the cops found him sitting dead behind the wheel of his ford mondeo, in the middle of the street with the headlights still on. he had been killed "by various bullets".
the story says dagastan was "known to the police". i think they usually say this when they mean to suggest that the victim was killed in connection with criminal activities.
that evening, dagastan had been spotted at three different snackbars: one here in the neighborhood and two out in osdorp. so we know the victim had a healthy appetite.
in the parool story they list what some people said they saw that night. two guys with hoods, one with a furry collar, walked toward pieter van der doesstraat. two guys sat on a bench at the corner of the admiralengracht. a small van drove at high speed toward jan van galenstraat. two women with head scarves got into a car, then one got out again. they're still looking for more witnesses who might help them piece together what led up to the killing.
it's funny -- now that i read that, i may be tempted to elevate all those rather ordinary manifestations into omens of immanent crime. like, next time i see two guys with hoods walking, or two women getting into a car and one getting out again, i might wonder if some guy known to the police is about to get shot.