Belgian police arrests lone assailant who stabbed 3 at Brussels' Schuman metro station
A stabbing took place in front of the Schuman metro station in Brussels' European Quarter around 6 p.m. on Monday evening. The Belgian police were able to detain the perpetrator quickly, but still some people got injured. This Tuesday, January 31, the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office will communicate about the incident and its further investigation.
A man initiated a knife attack while on a metro carriage before running through the station attempting to attack someone else, several witnesses stated. One young man got severely injured and several others in the vicinity sustained minor knife cuts; there were no fatal injuries. Numerous police officers and two ambulances went to the scene.
"Three people were injured, one of them severely," a spokesperson for the federal police confirmed to Belga News Agency. All three were taken to hospital. "A suspect has been arrested, but his motive is not yet known."
The man was not on the watch list of the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis ('OCAD' in Dutch, 'OCAM' in French) monitoring terrorist activity in Belgium and he is not known to the State Security intelligence services either. Bystanders have speculated from the man's behaviour that he was suffering from psychological problems.
In the meantime, staff working at the European Commission received a security alert warning them to avoid the area of the Schuman metro station.
The station was closed by police order and the metro service was interrupted for several hours, meaning hundreds of commuters had to switch to replacement buses at the nearby Arts-Loi/Kunst-Wet, Maalbeek/Maelbeek and Merode metro stops. Around 21:00, metro service was able to resume as normal.
On Twitter, a number of videos and photos are circulating of the police ordering the presumed attacker to the ground before arresting him.
(VIV)
#FlandersNewsService | Police officers hold a security perimeter around the site of a knife attack, at the Schuman metro station, in Brussels, 30 January 2023. © BELGA PHOTO (HATIM KAGHAT) © BELGA VIDEO (HATIM KAGHAT)