Prisoner kills officers with their own guns
THREE SHOT DEAD IN LIEGE ATTACK
A KNIFE-WIELDING prison inmate stabbed two female police officers in the Belgian city of Liege, before stealing their service weapons and shooting them and a bystander dead in an attack prosecutors fear could be terror-related.
Justice minister Koen Geens said the assailant, who was later killed by police, was on a two-day leave from prison. Mr Geens described him as a repeat offender who had been incarcerated since 2003 and was due for release in two years.
The attack happened outside a Liege cafe yesterday morning. Liege prosecutors’ spokesman Philippe Dulieu said the man crept up on the two officers from behind, before stabbing them several times.
Mr Dulieu told reporters: “He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died.”
The two police handguns had a total of 17 bullets.
Mr Dulieu said the attacker then shot and killed a 22-year-old man in a vehicle which was leaving a parking space outside a nearby high school. He then took two women hostage inside the school.
“Liege police intervened. He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs. He was shot dead,” the spokesman said.
Police chief Christian Beaupere said the slain officers were 45 and 53 years old – the latter the mother of twins. Four other officers were wounded in the attack, one of them seriously with a severed femoral artery.
“The goal of the attacker was to target the police,” Mr Beaupere said.
Belgian media identified the suspect as Benjamin Herman. The Belgian national, born in 1982, had a criminal record that included theft, assault and drug offences, state broadcaster RTBF reported.