Two people have died and three are injured following a shooting in Saint-Gilles on Wednesday night. So far, no person has been arrested in connection with the incident.
The shooting occurred between 01:00 and 02:00 in a café on Rue Argonne, located right next to Brussels-Midi station. The Public Prosecutor's Office has confirmed that two people died at the scene – a 44-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman, aged, and three others are wounded.
Two other male victims, aged 42 and 49 respectively, sustained severe gunshot wounds. "They were transferred to hospital in critical condition. Their lives are still at risk." A fifth male victim aged 31 whose life was not in danger was also taken to hospital for care.
"The police forces, which consisted of several patrols of the Brussels-Midi and City of Brussels/Ixelles police zones, were able to administer first aid to one of the victims who, thanks to this intervention, could be stabilised before being transferred to hospital," the Public Prosecutor's Office's spokesperson said.
"At the current state of the investigation, the Brussels public prosecutor's office can neither confirm nor disprove that the victims would be accidental," the spokesperson added.
The ballistics expert's initial findings indicated that a heavy weapon or attack rifle may have been used during the shooting.
The Public Prosecutor's Office added that no suspect has been arrested so far, adding that the "investigation to identify the perpetrator(s) and determine the exact circumstances of those acts is ongoing".
Continued precariousness
Brussels-Midi train station is an international travel hub with Eurostar trains to London, Amsterdam and Paris departing here; over 60,000 people pass through it every day. However, like many other major train stations around Europe, there is crime and open drug use, with residents and retailers in the neighbourhood voicing feelings of insecurity for years.
The area has been a hotspot for many ongoing social problems and high poverty levels – seen through homelessness and open drug use, and higher crime rates. This is also not the first time the area was the scene of a shooting: just last month, one person died following a shooting on Avenue de Stalingrad, between the city centre and the train station, while in the station itself, a person was stabbed in April.
Despite multiple promises and proposed projects to improve the area, the neighbourhood has remained unchanged for more than a decade, and the situation has even worsened as it has for years been a construction site for the controversial Metro 3, further disrupting residents' lives.
This article was updated at 16:00 to include information from the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office.
