No previous violence in Belgium killer
2011-12-13 21:39
Liege - Nordine Amrani, the lone gunman who died after killing three people and injuring scores in an attack in a crowded Belgian square on Tuesday, had a long criminal record but not for violent crime.
The 33-year-old Amrani was well known to the police before he went on the rampage in the eastern Belgian city of Liege, opening fire on a square packed with children and Christmas shoppers, killing three people and wounding another 75.
He had previously been convicted for drug dealing and illegal arms possession, as well as for holding stolen goods and other crimes, said Daniele Reynders, the public prosecutor for Liege.
In September 2008, he was thrown behind bars for 58 months when police uncovered a weapons arsenal in his home.
They found 10 firearms and 9 500 gun parts along with 2 800 cannabis plants, but a prison official said Amrani was granted early release in 2010.
Death
A weapons aficionado, he was said to be able to dismantle, repair and put together all sorts of weapons, but was never linked to any terrorist act or network.
Reynders said there had never been the slightest hint he was unhinged enough to mount the kind of deadly attack he launched in Liege.
"At no moment in any of the judicial proceedings against him was there a sign of a disturbance," she told a news conference.
Amrani had been summoned by police on Tuesday morning but never showed up.
Instead, he left his Liege home in the morning with his backpack and arms, a light automatic rifle, a hand-gun and several grenades.
He headed for the city's central Saint-Lambert square, crammed with children and Christmas shoppers, and set up his gear on the roof of a popular bakery chain, Le Point Chaud.
With a bird's eye view of the square, he hurled three grenades into the crowd, the prosecutor said, before opening fire.
How exactly he died was not immediately clear, with some witnesses claiming he turned his revolver on himself while others said one of his grenades appeared to explode prematurely.
"The inquiry will determine whether he acted deliberately or whether the equipment he was carrying caused his death," Reynders said.
His van was found on the square.
