E-Paper
Suspect arrested after judge, clerk slain in Brussels court
An Iranian man has been arrested after he pulled a gun during a Brussels court hearing and shot dead a woman judge and court clerk before fleeing, Flemish VRT television reported today.
An Iranian man has been arrested after he pulled a gun during a Brussels court hearing and shot dead a woman judge and court clerk before fleeing, Flemish VRT television reported today.
Belga news agency quoted VRT as saying the man was a 47-year-old Iranian who had been identified by witnesses of the courtroom drama that shook Belgium yesterday.
He reportedly said he had been motivated by revenge. On its Internet site, VRT spoke only of "indications" that a man who had been arrested yesterday evening in a Brussels park after firing several shots in the air was the presumed double murderer.
Police wounded the man before arresting him. Initially the police had said the two incidents were not related. Yesterday, a man, who had been present throughout the hearing, "pulled out a firearm, a revolver, and fired at the judge and her clerk, killing both," said Jean-Jacques Meilleur, spokesman for the Brussels public prosecutor. The tribunal had been hearing a family and neighbour dispute case when the shooting happened.
The tribunal is close to the imposing Palace of Justice in the heart of the Belgian capital. The assailant "was briefly pursued by one of the lawyers present but he managed to flee on foot down on of the roads in the region," Meilleur added. A major search was launched for the gunman. The victims were 60-year-old magistrate Isabelle Brandon and her court clerk Andre Bellemans.
Last August, masked men helped three suspects escape the Palace of Justice, taking prison guards hostage in the process. Around the same time there was a spectacular escape from a prison in the north with the use of a hijacked helicopter.
