BRUSSELS: Belgian police on Tuesday fatally shot a patient carrying a bladed weapon at a psychiatric clinic in Brussels, the local prosecutor’s office said.
Police were asked to intervene at the psychiatric institute Fond’Roy for a man aged 49, described as aggressive and whom the clinic staff could not handle.
The prosecutor’s office said initial findings of the investigation showed that police had to call for reinforcements after a first patrol arrived on the scene, due to the individual’s particularly dangerous behavior and state of agitation.
“During the course of operations, the responding police officers had to use their service weapons,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The man was shot in the arm and the abdomen. He was taken to hospital, where he died of his injuries.
The prosecutor’s office said the committee exercising external oversight over Belgian police will investigate the case.