Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting

Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting
Part of Terrorism in Belgium (Wave of Terror in Europe
The Jewish Museum of Belgium, pictured in 2009
Location	Jewish Museum of Belgium Brussels, Belgium
Coordinates	50°50′27″N 4°21′12″E / 50.840771°N 4.353329°E / 50.840771; 4.353329Coordinates: 50°50′27″N 4°21′12″E / 50.840771°N 4.353329°E / 50.840771; 4.353329
Date	24 May 2014 (2014-05-24) 15:50 CEST (UTC+02:00)
Attack type	Shooting
Weapons	Kalashnikov rifle .38-caliber revolver
Deaths	4
Perpetrators	Islamic State in Iraq and Syria
Suspected perpetrator	Mehdi Nemmouche
Motive	Antisemitism, extremist Islamist beliefs

On 24 May 2014, a gunman opened fire at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels, Belgium, killing four people. Three died at the scene; a fourth was taken to the hospital and died on 6 June. The attack is being investigated as terrorism by Belgian authorities.

On 30 May, Mehdi Nemmouche, a 29-year-old French national of Algerian origin, was arrested at Marseille in connection with the shooting. He is believed to have spent over a year in Syria and had links with radical Islamists.

A man wearing a cap, carrying several bags and armed with a handgun and a Kalashnikov rifle arrived at the Jewish Museum of Belgium, near the Sablon in central Brussels, at around half past three. He then opened fire, killing three people on site and critically wounding a fourth, who was soon taken to hospital. He later died of his injuries on 6 June. The attack lasted less than 90 seconds, after which the shooter fled the scene on foot and was partially captured by security cameras. According to police, he headed into a different part of downtown Brussels before disappearing. According to security camera footage, the attacker appeared to wear a baseball-type cap covering-up his head, and a chest-mounted camera, like Mohammed Merah, who filmed his acts during the 2012 Toulouse and Montauban shootings, although it was stated that the camera failed during filming.

The Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Didier Reynders, happened to be in the vicinity of the museum and heard the gunshots. The Minister of the Interior, Joëlle Milquet, was also nearby and arrived on the scene a few minutes later.

Four people were killed in the shooting. Two of the victims were Israelis, Emanuel and Miriam Riva, a middle-aged couple on holiday from Tel Aviv, while a French woman named Dominique Sabrier was the third victim.