Greg Halman of the Seattle Mariners Stabbed to Death in the Netherlands
24-year-old Seattle Mariners outfielder Greg Halman has died of stab wounds sustained early Monday morning in the Netherlands, Dutch police have confirmed.
Police were called to a residence in Rotterdam, where Rotterdam Police spokeswoman Patricia Wessels says Halman lay bleeding, fatally wounded. Attempts were made to resuscitate the MLB athlete, but they were unsuccessful. According to Wessels, the 22-year-old brother of Halman was arrested as a suspect, but has not been identified in the media in accordance with arrest procedures in the Netherlands. Wessels did indicate that the suspect was being questioned by police, and that it “will take some time to figure out what exactly happened.”
An initial statement issued by Rotterdam police read:
“Just after half past five, police received a report of a stabbing at a house in Jan Sonjestraat. Once there police found a badly injured victim. They worked with paramedics to try to resuscitate the victim but they could not manage it. A suspect was arrested immediately at the house.
“The police have started an investigation to clarify exactly what took place. They will talk with witnesses and a forensic crime scene investigation will be conducted in the home. The identity of the victim and suspect in the fatal stabbing are known. The victim was a 24-year-old man from Rotterdam. His brother, a 22-year-old from Rotterdam, was arrested and detained for questioning.”
Halman was signed by Seattle as a free agent in 2004, and played in 44 games in 2010 and 2011. Last year, the Dutch-born player commented in an interview on the difficulties of leaving his family in Rotterdam for his career in the States:
“It was hard coming from a big family with love around you,’ he said in an interview with Tacoma Weekly last year. ‘But playing baseball was always my goal, so when I was feeling homesick I would tell myself this is what I always wanted to do. It was tough.”
Sport blogs have suggested the assailant may be Halman’s 22-year-old brother Jason, who is also a baseball player.
