Shooting incident in Sint-Truiden: one injured evacuated, shooter arrested
On Thursday afternoon a man opened fire on Spoorwegstraat in Sint-Truiden. A father and son overpowered the shooter; one of them was injured.
Shooting on Spoorwegstraat: father and son overpower armed man
Het Belang van Limburg reports that a shooting incident occurred on Spoorwegstraat in Sint-Truiden on Thursday morning at approximately 13.40. A man fired multiple shots in the direction of two bystanders. One of them was hit and transported to hospital by ambulance. The shooter was also injured and arrested.
Eyewitness Jeffrey Detant happened to be in the area at the time of the incident. "I heard people suddenly shouting 'stop, stop!'", he says. "When I came around the corner, I saw two men standing near a third man. The man had a pistol and fired a shot in the direction of the men."
According to Detant, the two targets reacted immediately. "The two men — I later heard they would be father and son — jumped on the shooter. While they tried to restrain him, he kept firing shots in all directions. I heard a total of three shots." Eventually the father and son managed to overpower the shooter and held his firearm against his chest until police arrived.
After approximately ten minutes, officers from the Sint-Truiden-Gingelom-Nieuwerkerken police force arrived and took over from the shooter. At that point the son collapsed. He was found to have been hit by a bullet and was cared for by the ambulance service present and an emergency physician.
Public prosecutor's spokesperson Anna Degraen confirms the investigation. "Around midday a shooting incident occurred on Spoorwegstraat. One victim was hit and injured and transported to hospital. A suspect, the shooter, was also injured and evacuated and has been arrested." According to Degraen, a laboratory and a weapons expert will attend the scene for further investigation. On Thursday afternoon, uncertainty remained regarding the precise circumstances and the severity of the injuries.
Spoorwegstraat is completely closed off. On the street, what appears to be debris and a shoe are visible; the area around a residence is cordoned off with tape.
Source: Het Belang van Limburg