Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

Jewish Belgium Museum Shooting

On the afternoon of 24 May 2014, agunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium inBrussels, killing four people. Three of them, an Israelicouple on holiday and a French woman, died at the scene. The fourthvictim, a Belgian employee of the museum, was taken to the hospitalbut died of his injuries on 6 June. A little less than a week later,on 30 May 2014, a suspect was arrested in the French city ofMarseille in connection with the shooting. The suspect was MehdiNemmouche, a 29-year-old French national of Algerian origin. A secondsuspect, Nacer Bendrer, was identified and arrested later.

Prior to the shooting, Nemmouche hadalready spent time in French prisons, where he became involved inradical Islam. After his imprisonment, he also spent more than a yearin Syria. It is also in prison where he met Bendrer, who wassuspected of having supplied Nemmouche with the weapons used in theattack. Investigators identified a third suspect as well, but thecharges against the third suspect were later dismissed due to theevidence against him being considered too weak.

Nemmouche and Bendrer were formallyindicted in April 2018, and tried before the court of assizes ofBrussels in early 2019. After two months of trial hearings, a verdictwas rendered: Nemmouche was found guilty of having committed theattack, whilst Bendrer was found guilty of being the co-author of theattack by having supplied Nemmouche with the weapons used in theattack. The theory that Nemmouche was framed by foreign intelligenceofficials, put forward by Nemmouche's defence, was rejected.Subsequently, Nemmouche was sentenced to life imprisonment whilstBendrer was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. Both were lateralso sentenced to pay close to one million euro in damages to thevictims' next of kin.

Shooting

A man wearing a cap, carrying severalbags and armed with a handgun and a Kalashnikov rifle arrived at theJewish Museum of Belgium, near the Sablon in central Brussels, ataround half past three. He then opened fire, killing three people onsite and critically wounding a fourth, who was soon taken to hospitaland who died of his injuries on 6 June. The attack lasted less than90 seconds, after which the shooter fled the scene on foot and waspartially captured by security cameras. According to police, heheaded into a different part of downtown Brussels beforedisappearing. According to security camera footage, the attackerappeared to wear a baseball-type cap covering-up his head, and achest-mounted camera, like Mohammed Merah, who filmed his acts duringthe 2012 Toulouse and Montauban shootings, although it was statedthat the camera failed during filming.

The Belgian Minister of ForeignAffairs, Didier Reynders, happened to be in the vicinity of themuseum and heard the gunshots. The Minister of the Interior, JoëlleMilquet, was also nearby and arrived on the scene a few minuteslater.

Victims

Four people were killed in theshooting. Two of the victims were Israelis, Emmanuel and Miriam Riva,a middle-aged couple on holiday from Tel Aviv, while a French womannamed Dominique Sabrier was the third victim.

A young Belgian man who worked at themuseum, Alexandre Strens, was critically wounded and died of hiswounds on 6 June. He was born in Morocco to a Jewish mother andAlgerian Berber father, and his body was returned to Taza, Morocco,for burial in a Muslim cemetery.