'I have so many questions,' says mother of 13-year-old boy who was stabbed to death

"Please boys, don't do anything crazy. Look out for each other," a woman says tearfully Monday morning to a group of boys hanging around their fat bikes and bicycles. "Don't fight. It's getting crazier and crazier what's happening." The group is in Fjorddal, a street in a residential area in Schiedam-Noord. In this area, a thirteen-year-old boy was arrested and taken away by the police last Sunday, because he is suspected of stabbing another thirteen-year-old boy. He died of his injuries in hospital.

The crying woman, it slowly becomes clear, is his mother. The mother of the dead boy.

This rainy Monday morning she went with family and friends to see where it happened: a small park that you enter when you leave Fjorddal. There are now orange flowers at the entrance of the park.

In 2021, knife violence in (attempted) manslaughter was more common among minors than in 2016

Then she found the group of boys. In the street between the dark blue and white Swedish-style houses. The boys are friends, classmates and acquaintances of her son. They wear dark, quilted jackets and stare silently at the ground or into the distance. Every now and then a vape is pulled out of a jacket pocket. And sometimes they hug each other. More and more journalists join them.

"He wasn't violent at all," the dead boy's mother tells the group of boys and journalists in despair. "Yes, he was stubborn, but not violent. They knew each other from school. I even said: don't associate with that boy. I have so many questions. They all remain unanswered."

The suspect is said to live here in Sveaparken, a district designed in Scandinavian style. The streets are called Stockholm, Göteborg and Hammerdal. It is "a kind of village," says local resident Achem Linke (37) in the doorway of his house. "You know all the neighbors, you know who walks by with the dog."

Research

Sunday around half past five in the evening the message came in the neighbourhood app. A stabbing at the Fjorddal, writes a local resident. Shit, thinks Marie-Claire Stolk, that's around the corner. Her seven-year-old daughter is playing outside with a friend. "At that moment you just can't take it anymore. The police were already there, luckily, there were a lot of people. I took her inside right away."

The police are still investigating the stabbing incident. It has been reported that a knife was found in the area. Shortly after the incident, the victim rang the doorbell of the residents of the house on the edge of the park. They called 112.

The mother and the group of boys on the street do not know much about the how and why of the fatal stabbing. The victim and the suspect were in the same class, the boys say. In the first year of secondary school in Vlaardingen, which borders Schiedam. They were "good" with each other. But the suspect was known as a troublemaker, the boys say. Not only at school, but also in Schiedam-Noord. They mention a number of things he is said to have done, but NRC cannot verify these.

Knife in pocket

The boys have no idea what happened. Yes, there are fights at school and in the neighborhood. You often see children being incited by other children to do something. But pulling a knife? No, they don't think it's normal to have a knife in their pocket as a thirteen-year-old.

The image of an increasingly younger age of suspects and perpetrators and of 'hardening' among young people is not reflected in the (national) figures. Since around 2007, a decrease has been seen in the number of young suspects and perpetrators, according to the Youth Crime Monitor 2023 of the Scientific Research and Data Centre (WODC). It did appear that in 2021, knife violence in (attempted) manslaughter occurred more often among minors than in 2016.

"I can't remember walking around with a knife in my pocket when I was thirteen," says local resident Achem Linke. He says he immediately contacted a colleague who is a scout leader on Sunday evening. "I said: do you know how important your job is? It is so important that we don't lose sight of these young people."

Marie-Claire Stolk's other daughter (14) has already said she doesn't want to go outside anymore. "I'm a bit more level-headed about it myself," says father Ton Prins. "It certainly doesn't happen twice in the same place. You can't keep those children inside either," he says. "Then they have no life at all. But I do worry, because it's becoming more and more normal."

Later in the afternoon, when the police tape has been removed from the park and most of the journalists in the neighborhood have left, the friends and classmates of the deceased boy cycle into the street again. This time with a bunch of white flowers under their arms.