The Antwerp police were sent to Lange Schipperskapelstraat, near the Schipperskwartier, in Antwerp on Friday evening around 9 p.m. because witnesses had spotted an armed man there. The suspect was located near the (closed) Red&Blue disco and is said to have brandished a weapon.
When the police approached him, he pointed his weapon at the inspectors, according to the prosecutor’s office. “The police then fired a shot, which injured the man,” said public prosecutor Lieselotte Claessens on Friday evening.
Motives unclear
Several witnesses said Friday they heard at least two shots. The police were still searching for bullets and shell casings at the scene of the incident in the evening. A bullet impact could be seen in the side of a police car that closed the street.
“The public prosecutor’s office has requested an investigating judge to further investigate the facts,” Claessens said on Saturday. The forensic police laboratory arrived on the scene on Friday evening for a trace investigation, and a weapons expert from the Antwerp police zone was also present.
It is not yet clear what the motives of the shot man were. After the shooting, he was taken to hospital with injuries, but according to the public prosecutor’s office his injuries are not in danger.
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