The European football qualifying match between Belgium and Sweden was about to be played when the perpetrator opened fire with an automatic weapon in central Brussels.
Videos from the scene show how the perpetrator, wearing an orange jacket and white moped helmet, chases people and shoots at close range. Two Swedish citizens are confirmed dead, another is being treated for his injuries in hospital.
The perpetrator is heard on videos shouting “Allahu akbar” in connection with the shooting.
Felt that he was radicalized
The man singled out for the act is a native of the municipality of Schaerbeek north of Brussels and it should be known that he has been radicalized, according to Belgian HLN.
Shortly after the crime, the designated man published a video on social media. In the clip, he says, among other things, that “we die for our religion” and that he “takes revenge for Muslims” and that he killed Swedes. He also swears allegiance to IS.
While the video was being recorded, a helicopter circled above the man, who was still wearing the orange jacket seen in clips from the shooting.
Wrote posts about USA deeds
Earlier Monday, the suspect posted a social media post about the Muslim boy who was stabbed to death by the family’s landlord in Chicago over the weekend, saying it would have been called terrorism if it had been a Christian child.
After Monday’s shooting, the account has been removed from Facebook.
The suspect also has a Tiktok account where he, among other things, follows an account that shares conspiracy theories about Muslim children being kidnapped by the Swedish social services.