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2011 Liège attack

On 13 December 2011, a murder–suicide attack took place in the city of Liège in the Wallonia region of Belgium.

The attacker, 33-year-old Nordine Amrani, threw grenades and fired an FN FAL rifle at civilians on Saint-Lambert Square. The attack killed five and left 125 others injured; seven of whom suffered serious injuries. Amrani then committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver. Earlier that day, he had also murdered a woman in his house.

Attack

The attack took place on 13 December 2011 at 12:33 local time (11:33 UTC) in Saint-Lambert Square, home to the town's courthouse. It was a busy day with many shoppers in the nearby Christmas market.

Witnesses reported four explosions and gunfire. At first, it was believed that there were two or more assailants, who threw stun grenades into the courthouse while another hurled them at a bus shelter. The gunman then fired shots from the rooftop of a bakery shop, located across the square. Police were on the scene quickly and sealed off the square.

Amrani killed four people in the attack and wounded 125 others, seven seriously. After that, Amrani committed suicide by shooting himself with a .357 Magnum revolver. Two of the dead were teenage boys aged 15 and 17. A 17-month-old boy died later in a hospital. A 75-year-old woman died from her injuries two days after the attack. A sixth victim, who had been in an induced coma since the attack, died of head injuries on December 23.

Perpetrator

Nordine Amrani was born in Ixelles/Elsene in Brussels, Belgium on 15 November 1978. He was a French-speaking Belgian of Moroccan origin and a welder by trade. According to Amrani's lawyer, he could not speak Arabic nor was he Muslim. Amrani was known to have an interest in guns, with a history of convictions for possession of weapons.

He grew up near Brussels, and was living with his fiancée, a care home nurse. Orphaned early, he was raised in foster homes.

Amrani had been released from prison in October 2010. He had been convicted to a 58-month (4 years, 10 months) sentence he received from a Liège court in 2008. The conviction was for possession of thousands of weapons parts, dozens of weapons, including a rocket launcher, assault and sniper rifles, as well as 2,800 cannabis plants, in the context of a criminal conspiracy (association de malfaiteurs). He also had convictions for handling stolen goods and sex offences but had no known links to terror groups. On the day of the attack, Amrani had been summoned for an interview with the police to answer questions about a sexual abuse case.

Before the attack, Amrani transferred money from his account to that of his girlfriend. On the morning of the attack, Amrani killed a 45-year-old woman in his apartment. The victim was working as a cleaner for Amrani's neighbour. He possibly lured her into his flat under the pretext of offering her work. After the murder, he hid her body in his shed, then left his flat for the city centre, equipped with a backpack containing the weapons.

Liege attacks: Belgian gunman Nordine Amrani had 'grudge against society'

By Bruno Waterfield - Telegraph.co.uk

December 14, 2011

Belgian gunman Nordine Amrani launched his attack on Christmas shopping crowds in Leige's busy Place Saint Lambert because he knew that he was going to be sent back to prison and had a "grudge against society", his lawyers said on Wedesday.

It emerged early on Wednesday morning that Amrani, 33, killed a 45-year old woman before carrying out his grenade and assault rifle attack that killed three people in Liege, including a 17-month old baby boy.

The Belgian, of Moroccan origin, was on parole and had been summoned to police, where he feared being arrested and being returned to prison because his car number plate had been seen at the scene of an "immoral act".

With previous convictions and jail terms for possession of arms, he would have known that the police would have raided his properties where he had a new stash of heavy weapons, including grenades and assault rifles.

"He feared being returned to prison. He called me twice on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning about it," said Jean-François Dister, his criminal defence lawyer in Liege.

"What worried him most was to be jailed again. According to my client it was a set-up by people who wanted to harm him. Mr Amrani had a grudge against the law. He thought he had been wrongfully convicted."

The Belgian justice authorities are facing questions because Amrani had been released early from prison on arms and drugs charges. His release had involved plea bargaining and partial acquittal for his armoury of dozens of weapons and 9,500 rounds of ammunition.

Before his suicide attack on Christmas shoppers, he killed a woman who worked as a cleaner for a an unnamed neighbour. He is said to have asked her into his "lock-up", a deserted and tatty house and garage property where he did not live, on the pretext of offering her work. He killed her with a shot to the head.

"A search last night revealed in a warehouse used by the attacker, notably to grow cannabis, the body of a woman killed by the attacker before he went to the Place St Lambert," said Cedric Visart de Bocarme, a Liegeois prosecutor.

Prosecutors have confirmed that Amrani committed suicide after the attacks by shooting himself in the forehead with his revolver after he had hurled three grenades and sprayed shoppers with rounds from his FN-FAL assault rifle.

Before carrying out the attack, Amrani then transferred cash to his fiancee's account with the words "I love you my love. Good luck."

His wife-to-be is a woman called Perrin Balon, who is a nurse for a home visits social care company outside Liege and who paid the bills on the warehouse where the cleaner's body was found. She is in hiding with her middle class family after being interviewed by police.

His family lawyer, Abdelhadi Amrani in Brussels, who is not related to the killer, said that he had grown up in foster homes after being orphaned at an early age.

"I remember a man deeply marked by loss of his parents. He lost his father and mother very early. He was marked by fate. I would add he was a very smart boy, gifted. Nordine often spoke of his desire to start a family. He was to be married in Liege with a nurse," she said.

Miss Amrani, the lawyer, dismissed any possible terrorist motives for the attack. "He did not feel at all Moroccan. He did not speak a word of Arabic and was not Muslim. What he said is that he felt a Belgian," she said. "He was crazy about weapons but as a collector. He felt he had not had much luck in life and felt unfairly treated by the courts. This was a 'ras-le-bol' of a tormented soul: estranged from justice, and against society."

The attack has led to a heated national debate in the country about gun laws and why he was considered safe to be released, having been sentenced in 2008 to 58 months in prison for illegal possession of ten firearms.

A 17-month-old baby boy became the fourth victim after dying in hospital late on Tuesday night despite undergoing hours of emergency treatment.

Gabriel was in the arms of his mother when he was hit by a bullet in the back of the head. The child and his parents were at the bus stop just below the walkway where the shooter opened fire.

Amrani had been due to attend a police interview in the late morning but never showed up. Instead he left his apartment armed with a Belgian-made FN- FAL automatic rifle, a handgun and up to a dozen grenades carried in a backpack.

He drove the five-minute journey from his 1930s apartment building the Residence Belvedere and parked his white van in Place St Lambert.

He walked onto a raised walkway above a bus stop where lunchtime shoppers were thronging for the opening of a Christmas market. From his 15ft high vantage point he lobbed three hand grenades towards a busy bus shelter before opening fire on the crowd. A 15-year-old boy died instantly while the baby of 17 months and a 17-year-old boy succumbed to their injuries in hospital. Five people are still fighting for their lives, including a 75-year old woman who was initially declared dead on arrival at hospital.

As schoolchildren lay flowers in a shattered bus shelter on Wednesday, shocked young Leigeois pointed to bullet scarred walls and wept. "It is awful to be here, to see the wreckage and to think that I come here all the time to shop and meet friends. Everyone comes here, it could have been me, anyone" said Christine Collard, 16.

Profile: Liege mass killer Nordine Amrani

BBC.co.uk

December 14, 2011

Nordine Amrani was known to Belgian police as a gun enthusiast long before the day he killed at least four people and himself, wounding more than 120.

The man who left his home in Liege on Tuesday with a Fal assault rifle, hand grenades and a revolver had received a five-year prison sentence in 2008 for possessing a large arsenal and growing cannabis.

However, a court of appeal acquitted him of the gun conviction a year later on the grounds that he had had the necessary permissions to keep them, his lawyer Jean-Francois Dister told La Libre Belgique newspaper.

When he was paroled in 2010, his guns were not returned because of his drug-dealing conviction but otherwise he was under no special gun restrictions, Mr Dister explained.

According to Liege public prosecutor Daniele Reynders, the paroled man showed no sign of mental instability.

At the time of the massacre, he was again in trouble with the police, but this time in a vice case.

Indeed, the 32-year-old had been due to attend a police station for questioning on the day he launched his attack.

Life-long felon

Amrani was born in the Ixelles district of Brussels on 15 November 1978, of Moroccan extraction.

A welder by profession, he was constantly in trouble with the law, Liege chief prosecutor Cedric Visart de Bocarme said.

"He was a felon who had been in trouble all his life: youth court, criminal court, courts of appeal," he said.

He had, among other things, a vice conviction in 2003.

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, AFP news agency reports.

When he was arrested in 2008, police found 2,800 cannabis plants he was growing in a warehouse.

They also found 10 guns and 9,500 gun parts.

The arsenal included a Law rocket launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, a sniper rifle, a K31 rifle, a Fal assault rifle and hundreds of cartridges, Le Soir newspaper reports.

"Amrani made silencers himself," its article notes.

"At the time, Amrani refused to say where the weapons had come from and where they were destined."

Le Soir adds that the decision of the court of appeal to acquit Amrani of the gun possession charges was linked to "grey areas" left by a change in classification in Belgium's gun law of June 2006.

'Grievance'

Vice police had wanted to question Amrani over an incident at a party in November, Mr Dister told La Libre Belgique, without giving details.

He was due to appear at a Liege police station at 13:30 (12:30 GMT), not far from St Lambert Square.

Instead, he attacked the square at 12:30 in a burst of violence which ended when he shot himself dead.

"He was afraid of being taken into custody," said the lawyer.

"He phoned me twice on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning."

At his client's request, Mr Dister phoned a substitute lawyer and the police investigator.

"It seemed the new case was not particularly serious but Mr Amrani thought he was being picked on," the lawyer said.

"He explained to me that he had been questioned over an abduction. According to him, he had been framed and someone was out to get him. Mr Amrani had a grievance against the law."

After searching addresses associated with Amrani, and finding the body of a murdered woman, prosecutors said they had not found any message from the gunman.

The woman, who had been shot through the head, was found in the same warehouse where Amrani cultivated cannabis in 2008, prosecutors confirmed.

Liege attack: Belgian police find body in killer's shed

BBC.co.uk

December 14, 2011

Police in Belgium have found a woman's body in a shed belonging to a gunman who went on the rampage in the centre of Liege on Tuesday.

The body was found with a bullet wound to the head, say Belgian officials.

Nordine Amrani launched his attack with guns and hand grenades in a busy marketplace in Liege, killing three people there and himself.

Police say a 75 year-old woman earlier identified as one of the dead is still alive in hospital.

About 125 people were wounded, five of whom are in intensive care, including the woman.

The body found at the killer's property was that of a cleaner, reported to be 45 years old, who worked for one of Amrani's neighbours.

Also found in the shed were two weapons and a stockpile of ammunition, public prosecutor Daniele Reynders told a news conference.

No message has been found from the attacker, she said.

Officials say the shed was used by Amrani to grow cannabis.

'Traumatising'

A small crowd gathered at the Place Saint-Lambert in Liege for a minute's silence at midday local time (1100GMT) on Wednesday, 24 hours after the shooting. Some people laid flowers.

Students at the Saint Barthelemy high school - attended by two of the victims - also joined hands and observed the silence.

One of the boys has been identified as 17-year old Pierre Gerouville.

"It's difficult to accept that it happened in Liege and you realise no-one is safe in this case - it could have been him, it could have been someone else," said one student, Sophie Bodart.

"It's traumatising to know - you see him in school but he will never be back," said another pupil, Robin Hames.

"He didn't do anything. It was an exam day and he never came home."

A tribute page has been set up on Facebook for Pierre Gerouville.

The authorities are trying to determine what motivated Nordine Amrani, a Belgian citizen, to go on his killing spree in the central Place Saint-Lambert.

Officials have ruled out organised political terrorism but have yet to determine why he opened fire.

The BBC's Matthew Price, in Belgium, says they will now need to examine whether there was anything to indicate in advance that Amrani might have posed a danger to the public.

Police have said he was known to them for previous drugs and firearms offences and acted alone in the attack.

Amrani, a resident of Liege, had spent three years in jail for firearms and drugs offences, Ms Reynders said.

He was released on parole in October 2010.

There were no medical reports suggesting any mental health problems, she said.

'Tragedy'

Amrani had been asked to attend a police station on Tuesday for an interview in connection with charges against him.

Instead, he took an assault rifle, revolver and hand grenades into the busy town centre square, close to the courthouse.

At about midday, he threw three grenades at people waiting for buses then opened fire, sending hundreds of people fleeing in panic.

"He wanted to hurt as many people as possible," journalist Nicolas Gilenne told AFP. "I heard four explosions and shots during about 10 seconds."

A 15-year-old boy died instantly, while the other victims died later in hospital.

One official told AFP that a Christmas market was meant to be taking place in the square that day but the opening had been postponed because of bad weather.

"Otherwise many more would have died," said the official.

Ms Reynders said Amrani had committed suicide at the scene by shooting himself in the head.

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo, who has only been in office since last week, said there were "no words to describe this tragedy".

"The whole country shares the pain of the families affected. We share the shock of the population," he said as he visited the square on Tuesday.

Belgium's King Albert II and Queen Paola also visited Place Saint-Lambert to pay their respects.

Liege's mayor Willy Demeyer, said the attack had "sown sorrow in the heart of the city".

How the attack unfolded

1. Place St Lambert square: Nordine Amrani parks near Le Point Chaud bakery. He is armed with hand grenades, a handgun and an automatic weapon.

2. Approx. 1230: Amrani walks to a paved terrace above the bakery and throws 3 grenades at people waiting at bus stops on the road below. He then opens fire with the automatic weapon. Three people are killed and about 125 are wounded. Amrani then shoots himself dead with the handgun.

3. Fifth victim: The body of a 45-year-old woman is later found shot dead in a shed at Amrani's house on Rue de Campine.

A haul of guns and a cannabis shed: Inside the home of crazed Belgian killer who launched grenade attack on Christmas market

• Killer named as Nordine Amrani, from a Moroccan background and on parole

• Due to answer a summons about ‘sexually molesting’ a young woman

• Had previous convictions for drug dealing and keeping an arsenal of weapons

• One lawyer says Mr Amrani had 'a grudge against the law' and thought he had been 'wrongfully convicted'

• Previously found guilty of keeping 10 firearms, 9,500 gun parts in his flat and 2,800 cannabis plants

• Another lawyer said orphaned Amrani was 'a man deeply marked by the loss of his parents' and 'was crazy about weapons.

By Peter Allen - DailyMail.co.uk

December 15, 2011

Casually propped against a wall, the two rocket launchers and hunting rifle below are just some of a cache of guns inside the home of 'weapons mad' Belgian killer Nordine Amrani.

The arsenal was uncovered by police during a raid of the gunman's home during October 2007 and also includes several other powerful rifles, ammunition, and what appears to be a flak jacket.

Amrani, who on Tuesday murdered four people and wounded 125 others, also used his home in the city of Liege as a cannabis factory, with police finding more than 2,800 plants during the raid.

Yesterday, Amrani's lawyer said he carried out the attack because he feared being sent to back to prison for a sex crime.

The 32-year-old convicted criminal, who was due to marry his long-term girlfriend, used grenades and a semi-automatic rifle to cause carnage in the Belgian city before turning a revolver on himself.

Among his victims was a 45-year-old cleaning lady whom he shot dead near his home on Tuesday morning, as well as a 17-month old baby boy.

Defence lawyer Jean-Francois Dister said Amrani, a Belgian from a Moroccan background, was on parole and was due to answer a summons about allegedly ‘sexually molesting’  a young woman.

He is thought to have attacked the unnamed victim after driving alongside her in his van. Its number plate was captured by CCTV.

One of Amrani’s numerous previous convictions was for rape, for which he had been given a two-year suspended sentence in 2003.

If convicted again for a sex crime, he would have had to serve it.

This would have also meant his girlfriend, a nurse called Perrin Balon, finding out about the sex allegations against him.

‘He feared being returned to prison,’said Mr Dister. ‘He called me twice on Monday afternoon and on Tuesday morning about it.

‘What worried him most was to be jailed again. According to my client it was a set-up by people who wanted to harm him. Mr Amrani had a grudge against the law.

'He thought he had been wrongfully convicted.’

After Tuesday’s attack, the bag Amrani used to carry his haul of weapons was found to still contain several loaded magazines, as well as a number of live grenades.

An enquiry has been launched into why he had not been under closer supervision while on bail after early release from a sentence of nearly five years.

His weapons were confiscated because of his other criminal offences, yet he managed to obtain a FAL Belgian assault rifle, grenades and other weapons soon after his release in October 2010.

Belgian’s notoriously liberal criminal justice system is already facing questions as to why, in October 2010, the killer had been released from prison three years early after being convicted of firearms and drug offences.

In 2008 he had been found guilty of keeping 10 complete firearms, and an astonishing 9,500 gun parts in his flat, along with 2,800 cannabis plants nearby.

On Tuesday morning, Amrani is thought to have tried to rape the woman cleaner in his flat, where police had found an arsenal of weapons including a rocket launcher, AK47 and Kalashnikov.

Police said he killed her 'with a bullet to her head' and then dumped her body in a lock-up shed where he was growing cannabis plants.

He then left money for Ms Balon, with a note that said: 'Good luck! I love you.'

A police source said: 'The cleaner had been working in a neighbour's home. It appears that Amrani had invited her into his own flat to discuss the possibility of cleaning his flat.

'There were signs of a struggle, and it may be that Amrani had tried to rape her.

'Whatever happened, she was undoubtedly his first murder victim on Tuesday morning.'

Cedric Visart Bocarme, the Belgian Attorney General, confirmed that the woman 'would have been murdered by the killer just before he went to Place Saint-Lambert'.

The attack brought horror to Belgium's fifth largest city, with crowds of shoppers, many of them children, screaming and running in panic as grenades exploded and shots rang out.

Today, a small crowd gathered at the Place Saint-Lambert for a minute's silence at 12noon, 24 hours after the shooting.

Students at the Saint Barthelemy High School - attended by two of the victims - also joined hands and observed the silence.

Abdelhadi Amrani, another lawyer who worked for the killer but is not related, said he had grown up in foster homes after being orphaned as a child.

‘I remember a man deeply marked by the loss of his parents,’ said Ms Amrani. ‘He lost his father and mother very early. He was marked by fate.

‘I would add he was a very smart boy, gifted.

'Nordine often spoke of his desire to start a family. He was to be married to a nurse in Liege.’

Commenting on Amrani’s background, Ms Amrani said: ‘He did not feel at all Moroccan. He did not speak a word of Arabic, and was not Muslim. What he said is that he felt like a Belgian.

‘He was crazy about weapons, but as a collector.

'He felt he had not had much luck in life and felt unfairly treated by the courts.

'This was the fed-up cry of a tormented soul – he was estranged from justice, and against society.’

A 17-month-old baby boy called Gabriel became the fourth victim after dying in hospital late on Tuesday night despite undergoing hours of emergency treatment.

Gabriel was in the arms of his mother when he was hit by a bullet in the back of the head. The child and his parents were at the bus stop just below the walkway from where Amrani opened fire.

Amrani had been due to attend a police interview in the late morning but never showed up.

Instead he left his apartment armed with a Belgian-made FN- FAL automatic rifle, a handgun and up to a dozen grenades carried in a backpack.

He drove the five-minute journey from his 1930s apartment building the Residence Belvedere and parked his white van in Place St Lambert.

He walked on to a raised walkway above a bus stop where lunchtime shoppers were thronging for the opening of a Christmas market.

From his 15ft high vantage point he lobbed three hand grenades towards a busy bus shelter before opening fire on the crowd. A 15-year-old boy died instantly while the baby of 17 months and a 17-year-old boy succumbed to their injuries in hospital.

Five people are still fighting for their lives, including a 75-year old woman who was initially declared dead on arrival at hospital.