Ryan Boman
Everything came to a sudden stop for about 2 1/2 hours on Monday at Belgium’s national stadium, after a gunman fatally shot three Swedes in Brussels, killing two. The murders took place just before before kickoff of the match between Sweden and Belgium. Hours later, it was reported that police had shot and killed the suspected gunmen, believed to be a Muslim extremist.
Belgian officials respond to the multiple shootings | SCREENSHOT: The Sun/YouTube
According to the Associated Press – Sweden’s foreign ministry stated that the men who were killed were in their 60s and 70s. The man who was wounded is in his 70s, and he remains hospitalized.
The gunman was only at large for a few hours before Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden posted on X, “The perpetrator of the terrorist attack in Brussels has been identified and has died.”
She also thanked Belgium’s intelligence and security services, as well as prosecutors, “for their swift and decisive action.”
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The suspect, a 45-year-old Tunisian man who had been living in Belgium illegally, took credit for the killings in a video he posted online. There is no clear indication as to why he specifically targeted Sweden. However, he does state in the video that the Quran was “a red line for which he is ready to sacrifice himself.”
The European Championship qualifier was being played some 3 miles (5 kilometers) from the shooting in the center of the Belgian capital, and more than 35,000 fans attended the match. With the suspect obviously roaming around and targeting fans from Sweden, Belgian authorities kept everyone inside the venue for security reasons. They eventually began evacuating the spectators around midnight local time.
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