A mother, 39, and her 14-year-old daughter were also killed by the gunman, who then travelled to the Erasmus Medical Centre, affiliated with Erasmus University, at roughly 2pm on Thursday.
Terrified students, patients and health workers ran for their lives when gunfire erutped.
Some people at the hospital were forced to barricade themselves into rooms and stick hand-written signs to windows to show their location.
The suspected shooter was arrested by police. He has been named as Fouad L. by Dutch media.
The 32-year-old is suspected to have killed the mother and daughter in their own home before travelling to a nearby university and killing 43-year-old Jurgen who worked as a GP and lecturer.
Jurgen worked as a GP for the Katendrecht Health Center, run by the Zonboog foundation, since 2010.
The director of the Zonboog foundation, René Baljon, said: “The impact is great, for his family, colleagues, but also for his patients. Jurgen was an amiable and committed general practitioner. He was also a trainer.
“Many people in Rotterdam know him. This is also a shock to general practitioner care across the region. We don’t know what the perpetrator’s motive is, but this is horrible.’”
Rotterdam’s chief prosecutor, Hugo Hillenaar said that the suspected shooter, who has not yet been named, was known to law enforcement as was prosecuted and convicted for abusing his rabbit while drunk in 2021.
He was reportedly given a 40-hour community service order for the crime.
Police have not yet announced a motive for the deadly attack.
Erasmus Medical Centre has since reopened its doors for visitors, and said that it will begin readmitting patients from Friday.
Meanwhile, Erasmus University has cancelled all its planned lessons on Friday and has offered counselling to its students.
Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima expressed their sympathy on social media.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of the victims of the violence in Rotterdam. We also think of everybody who lived in fear during these terrible actions,” they wrote.
