Posted on 05/29/2018 2:56:35 AM PDT by csvset
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A gunman killed two police officers and a passer-by on Tuesday before being himself shot dead in the center of the eastern Belgian city of Liege, public broadcaster RTBF said on its website.
Belgium’s anti-terrorist crisis center was monitoring the situation, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said on Twitter. It was unclear, however, what lay behind the incident in which the man had also taken a woman hostage, according to RTBF.
Two other police officers had been injured, Belga news agency said. A spokeswoman for the Liege public prosecutors office confirmed that two police officers had been shot dead and the gunman “neutralized” but could not confirm other details.
Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege’s central boulevard d’Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background. One video showed two police in body armor moving into position.
Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded over 100 before turning the gun on himself.
Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.
Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Alastair Macdonald
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Per the link, the two officers who were murdered were female. Wonder if that had anything to do with why they were targeted?
And, screw political correctness, if the murdered officers were less capable of defending themselves than male officers would have been. IOW, did Liege lower its recruiting requirements for women? If so, it’s done women no favors.
Or the public.
In their defense, women make for smaller targets. Given that many terrorists and criminals are lousy shots, being smaller may help in a gunfight.
[Okay, I know that is a very weak defense, but it’s the best I could come up with.]
FWIW, I don’t want to see a small cop, regardless of the officer’s sex. :-)
If Liege is lowering its recruiting and service standards to allow females, or more females to serve, that adversely affects everyone involved, including the public.
We may never know why the shooter performed this heinous deed.
Met a female cop recently. A six footer and beefy. And that looked to be all muscle. She was smart, competent, professional, kind. I was impressed and grateful she chose to serve her community. I want females like that on police forces.
He took a hostage at a school.
Where is the school shooting crowd demanding an end to the gun violence in Belgium?
Paging Camera Hogg...
Understandable, coming from rooters. But, in Israel it would be three dead. They don't count the dead animals.
What was he in prison for, jay walking?
Who will pay his fare to Belgium?
I met a female cop, slightly under 5’2” and skinny, at the range on Saturday. She was a very good and serious shot, even closing out her session with a half hour of shooting her Sig leftie. She was also a big fan of the Second Amendment. We ended up talking because I was shooting silenced, and she was interested. I don’t want her in a physical confrontation, but she didn’t seem like she’d have trouble shooting a thug if the need arose. I’ll happily take her in my police force over the men we would otherwise have to accept to recruit enough police.
I also talked a couple months ago with a male cop who was much bigger than her, a man who looked like he had been in shape before he succumbed to donuts. He was gleeful about destroying confiscated weapons, even knives, and about getting guns off the streets. He’s close to retirement, and that can’t happen soon enough for me. Yep. I’ll take a good cop, male or female, anywhere I can find one.
I’m not fond of the small cop physique, but we don’t get as wide a range of choices as we might wish. I want good cops. Bigger is better, but character matters more. A small woman may have to shoot when a larger man would overpower a thug. I’m okay with that, especially if the small woman can shoot and she respects the rule of law - including, in this country, our Second Amendment. The real problem arises when you have a petite meter maid doing a cop’s job, if she has neither the size nor the temperament to control thugs with either muscle or firepower, that is a recipe for trouble.
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