News is starting to come in that there has been a horrific grenade attack outside the main courthouse of Liege in Belgium. Five people are confirmed dead and 122 injured. The incident is not related to terrorism, and there was only one man involved who was killed in the incident, reports Peter Mertens a Belgian Interior Ministry official.
The Telegraph are updating people in real-time on their site here.
Gaspard Grosjean, a journalist for La Meuse Liege on the scene, told The Daily Telegraph there was panic and confusion on the streets of Liege.
There is at least one dead and the attacker. Police are looking for another shooter. There are lots of ambulances and many casualties – at least 10 people.
At the moment you can’t move in the city centre. People are crying and in shock – they do not know what is going on. Everyone has been told to stay inside and are hiding in shops.
The gunmen who was killed in the attack has be named as Nordine Amrani who was shot by police, and according to Le Soir (Belgium Newspaper) was about 32 years old and from Liege. Amrani was sentenced 3 years ago, when he was 29) to just under five years for possession of 12 guns and growing 2,800 cannabis plants. He was also fined 11,000 Euros and had another 76,500 Euros confiscated.
Weapons in a bag
Amrani had been asked to come for an interview at a police station in connection with charges against him.
A resident of Liege, he left home with a rifle, a pistol and three grenades in a bag, prosecutors said.
The BBC is reporting claims that the grenades were dropped from rooftops by a man in his 40s, and then also reportedly killed himself.
Place Saint Lambert is a busy intersection, served by hundreds of buses daily. It hosts an annual Christmas market which attracts some 1.5 million visitors a year.
An injured woman in Place Saint Lambert (REUTERS)
There was also another shooting in Europe today at a market in Piazza Dalmazia, and then again a short time later at San Lorenzo market, in the centre of Florence, where a man went on a rampage & opened fire on a group of Senegalese street traders. Two men were killed and 3 injured. The gunman was named as Gianluca Casseri, 50 and was from the town of Pistoia in Tuscany.
Gianluca Casseri
Image via http://www.lanazione.it
The man was cornered by police in an underground car park, and turned the gun on himself as he sat in his Volkswagen Polo.
A sad day in Europe indeed.
Sources: BBC, The Telegraph, Reuters and La Nazione