A shooting took place on Tuesday in Burgemeester Woutersstraat in the Berchem district of Antwerp. At least one person involved, a 41-year-old man, was injured. He presented himself to the emergency room with gunshot wounds and underwent surgery. The police have started an investigation.
A 16-year-old student from the Heilige Familie secondary school in Berchem witnessed the incident in Burgemeester Woutersstraat on his way to school on Tuesday. “Our student did not arrive at school in a normal condition,” says an educator at the school. “He looked very shocked and told me that shots had been fired in the street. He had seen two people shooting.”
The school immediately notified the police, who arrived on the scene and closed the street for further investigation. The student made a statement and was then taken care of by victim services. According to information from Gazette of Antwerp the incident started at a gas station on the Lappersbrug, close to the Grotesteenweg in Berchem, and those involved subsequently moved to the Burgemeester Woutersstraat.
Shattered windows
A shooting occurred between at least two people involved. One of them, the driver of a Range Rover, was shot several times. The man (41) was hit but was still able to flee. The other people involved, dressed in black sportswear according to witnesses, also fled in a van with a Ukrainian license plate.
A car with a shattered window was found at the Sint-Augustinus Hospital in Wilrijk. — © svde
Shortly afterwards, the injured driver of the Range Rover presented himself to the emergency services of the ZAS Augustinus in Wilrijk. He had parked his car, with at least eight bullet hits and two shattered windows, in the hospital parking lot. The man is undergoing surgery, he was reportedly hit at least once by a bullet.
Kogelhulzen
The judicial lab went to the Burgemeester Woutersstraat and ZAS Augustinus for trace evidence. A federal police sniffer dog was also used to look for bullet casings or other traces. Only three bullet casings were found in Burgemeester Woutersstraat, which may indicate that shots were also fired from the Range Rover. It is not yet clear whether shell casings were also found in that car.
The police have started an investigation into the context and the facts. The van with Ukrainian license plate is still being traced. It is not yet clear whether a third party is involved.
