Brussels shooter kills 3, injures 1 at Jewish Museum

Associated Press

BRUSSELS

Three people were shot dead and a fourth seriously wounded in an armed attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels on Saturday, officials said. Police detained one suspect and were looking for a second.

The bloodshed, which came on the eve of national and European Parliament elections, led officials immediately to raise anti-terror measures.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, who was in the vicinity, said the scene “was terrible and left me shocked” as he saw the bodies of two of the victims lying at the entrance of the museum in the swanky Sablon neighborhood of Belgium’s capital.

Reynders said that “you cannot help to think that when we see a Jewish museum, you think of an anti-Semitic act. But the investigation will have to show the causes.”

Interior Minister Joelle Milquet told reporters that the shooter apparently parked a car outside before entering the Jewish Museum. She added the gunman “apparently fired rather quickly, went outside and left.”

The three dead were two women and a man, and all were struck by bullets in the face or throat, said Ine Van Wymersch, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office. No further details were given.

Van Wymersch said one suspect was detained after he drove away from the museum around the time of the attack. A second person being sought for questioning left the area on foot. Van Wymersch said security-camera footage was being studied to try to identify the person.