Fifty-year-old man killed in police shootout in Barbençon

A 55-year-old man was killed in a shootout with police at his parents' home in Barbençon in the Belgian province of Hainaut on Friday night. 

Local police were backed up by special services on Friday night for an intervention in a residential area of Barbençon. A man in his fifties had pulled out a gun at a family gathering.

"He saw the police officers and fired at them, and two officers fired back"

 "He fired twice inside the house. Someone in the family was able to notify the police," the Charleroi prosecutor's office said on Sunday. The man then fired through a large window in the direction of the police. 

"He saw the police officers and fired at them, and two officers fired back," the prosecutor's office said. One of the shots was fatal to the man, who died at the scene. 

The man was known to police, the prosecutor's office said. The Comité P, which supervises police forces, has been informed of the events. 

^{© BELGA PHOTO HATIM KAGHAT}