The toll from a murderous spree by a lone gunman in the Belgian city of Liege on Thursday climbed to five dead and 125 wounded after a woman succumbed to her injuries overnight, officials said. Armed with grenades and an automatic assault rifle, ex convict Nordine Amrani killed two teenaged boys and a 17-month-old baby in a square crowded with school-children and lunch-hour Christmas shoppers on Tuesday before turning the gun on himself with a shot to the head.
Police also found the body of a cleaning-woman in her 40s lying in a shed he used to stash cannabis and arms. She had been killed earlier that day. An inquiry was continuing Thursday into the motive behind the attack but indications from officials and Amrani’s lawyers indicated an act of desperation by a former detainee living in fear of being thrown behind bars again. The Belgian parliament Thursday will debate the country’s gun laws as well as the follow-up of prisoners released on parole following the deadly attack.
