Gunman in Belgium opens fire at Jewish Museum in anti-Semitic attack, kills three
A gunman opened fire on Saturday at the Jewish Museum in the center of Brussels, killing at least three people in what officials said appeared to have been an anti-Semitic attack.
Belgium gunman attacking Jewish museum photo screenshot of CCTV video supplied
Joëlle Milquet, Belgium’s interior minister, told the press that a man and two women were killed in the attack with a found seriously injured. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said two of the dead, a man and a woman, were Israeli tourists. The other woman was a French national.
CCTV footage of gunman opening fire at the Jewish Museum in Brussels has been released by Belgian police. The man first detained by police has been released without charge and a manhunt is underway to locate the actual suspect.
Some reports indicate the fourth victim has died at the hospital, but that is unconfirmed at this time.
Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, who was in the vicinity, said the scene “was terrible and left me shocked” as he saw the bodies of two of the victims lying at the entrance of the museum.
Reynders said that “you cannot help to think that when we see a Jewish museum, you think of an anti-Semitic act. But the investigation will have to show the causes.”
A statement issued by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and said, “This act of murder is the result of constant incitement against Jews and their state.”
Milquet said anti-terror measures had immediately been heightened as a precaution. “We decided to apply to a maximum level of protection to Jewish sites,” she said.
