The gunman responsible for killing two Swedes ahead of Belgium’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden was known to police as an asylum seeker who had his application rejected four years ago. The shooting took place at 7.15pm local time, roughly 5km away from the King Baudouin Stadium.
The Euro 2024 qualifier was subsequently abandoned at half-time with Belgian authorities shutting down the city of Brussell with a threat level of four. State Secretary for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor admitted in the early hours of Tuesday morning that the gunman was known to police already.
He was said to be a 45-year-old Tunisian man, who applied for asylum in the country back in 2019. He then disappeared from the authority’s radar and has been suspected of living in Belgium illegally ever since.
Police were said to have been given information on the gunman from a foreign service that classed him as being radicalised. Describing the attack as “cowardly”, De Moor added: “The perpetrator targeted Swedish supporters. It was said to be a man of Tunisian origin who was staying illegally in our country.
“Terrorists try to sow fear and division, but must understand that they will never subjugate our free society. Terrorism will never be able to defeat us. We are a strong and tolerant country, in which we live together peacefully.
“Let us see peace as an antidote to terror and keep our Belgian calm. We will never be intimidated by terror.”
