Karst Roeland Tates
 Karst Roeland Tates  (Lone Nut?, “terrorist”?) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 7 March, 1971 Zevenaar, Gelderland | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 1 May, 2009 (Age 38) Deventer, Overijssel, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Dutch | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | None | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of | Quia Oportet | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Supposed perpetrator of | 2009 Queen's Day Attack | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Tates tried to kill the royal family on Queen Beatrix her birthday in 2009 in quite the chaotic vehicular assault.
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Karst Roeland Tates was the driver of the 2009 Queen's Day Attack. Driving his Suzuki Swift through the crowd of spectators on Queen's Day in 2009 and killed 7 people, his sole reasoning given to the first police officer that dodged him and arrested him hanging out of his car that "Willem Alexander was a fascist and a racist". The event permanently changed the character of security events. He died in the hospital of Deventer the following night.
Background
Tates, born in Zevenaar, grew up in the small city of Duiven with his two sisters, brother and parents. According to friends he was a popular kid, finished high school and entered a hotel school, which didn't go well. He apparently moved numerous times in the 1990s, experimenting with different aspects of Dutch life including cannabis, but always maintaining contact with his family. He entered the draft and got his life together in the end of the 90's, working at a gas station, and getting a small apartment in the city of Apeldoorn, near the German border. He appeared to distance himself from his former friends during this time.[1]
In the 2000s Tates - according to friends and neighbours - became quite more reserved. Being noted as a very accurate employee he quit his job at the gas station, quit his job in a factory for undisclosed reasons, not showing up, rejecting any onlookers or potential new renters asking to see his house he was planning on leaving within 60 days in May of 2009, something that occurred multiple times. At the end he began to lie about his new employee to his parents and neighbour, and he never appears to have looked for a new house when leaving his last one. His only occurrence in the police database appears to be for sleeping in his car for three days during this time. The police officers noted he sounded "suicidal".[2]
Tates actually called his mother always as the first of her children to congratulate her on a birthday... one day before the attack, sounding "quite happy".
| The event was broadcasted live on national television |
Attack
Tates drove his small Suzuki car through rows of attendants of the yearly royal parade of Queen's day, killing 7 people live on national-TV.
He was reportedly seen with binoculars timing the moment the open bus of the royal family would turn up on the road in Apeldoorn and hit the parade watchers with 112 km/h (70 mph) resulting in a barrier hitting his head and knocking him unconscious and his car severely damaged before hitting a monument 10m left of the open bus.
The investigation noted his sole reasoning given to the first police officer that dodged him and arrested him hanging out of his car that "Willem-Alexander was a fascist and a racist", and confessing he wanted to hit the open bus. His only noted problem was his recent abuse of cannabis, but it was specifically noted he was not high at the time.[3] Some of Tates last words were spoken in German. Although he appeared to have spoken to some officers later that day as he did not die until the next night.
Several unresolved questions remain about the event, that will probably never be answered.
