POLICE IN Brussels are hunting for a lone gunman after a magistrate and a legal clerk were shot dead in a city centre courtroom.
The suspect was still at large late last night after fleeing the court complex on foot.
The attack took place shortly after 11am when the man, one of six people present in court, opened fire with a revolver.
The suspect had been in the courtroom for some time before the attack, said justice minister Stefaan De Clerck.
Hours after the attack, however, police were unable to provide any description of the suspect.
“Two people died. He walked out and disappeared but we are looking for him very actively,” said Jean-Marc Meilleur, spokesman for the Brussels prosecutor.
Lawyers in the Belgian capital named the magistrate as Isabelle Brandon (60), a justice of the peace whose court mediates in family law cases, disputes between neighbours and litigation on small claims between landlords and tenants.
Ms Brandon was shot in the head, according to local media reports.
The motive for the attack remains unclear, Mr Meilleur said. While the authorities were investigating whether the suspect was involved in any cases before the judge, they have not yet ascertained whether that was so.
He said there were three witnesses to the shootings, all of them lawyers. “For the moment we think he was acting alone, yes. He was pursued by a witness but the witness couldn’t catch him,” he said.
“The courtrooms are public, so everyone can come and go and there are no specific security measures are taken for those courtrooms. It’s not a courtroom where criminals come usually.”
Danielle Bloom, a lawyer familiar with Ms Brandon’s work, said the judge was well regarded in legal circles as an expert in laws dealing with the treatment of mental illness.
The legal community in Brussels was in a state of shock, Ms Bloom added. “She was a very nice person. We are so surprised that such a thing could happen.”
Mr De Clerck said it was the first time a judge had been killed in a Belgian court. “It’s unacceptable,” he said.
Although the minister said the attack showed the need for more security in courthouses, it was not possible to have police in every court room.