Fourth victim dies following shooting in Jewish Museum, Belgium

Tributes: people lay flowers in front of the Jewish Museum (Picture: EPA)

Standard Reporter26 May 2014

A gunman shot dead two Israelis, a French woman and a Belgian at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, in an attack which was branded as “anti-Semitism” by Francois Hollande.

Belgian police are hunting for the gunman after a museum employee, aged in his 20s, was the fourth victim to die in the attack after he was shot in the face and neck.

Security around all Jewish institutions in Belgium has been raised to the highest level, while French authorities stepped up security after two Jews were attacked near a Paris synagogue.

Gunman: a CCTV still shows a man armed with a gun (Picture: EPA)

Belgian officials released a 30-second video clip from the museum's security cameras showing a man wearing a dark cap and a blue jacket enter the building, take a Kalashnikov rifle out of a bag, and shoot into a room before walking out.

Officials are appealing for witnesses to the attack in the busy tourist district which is filled with restaurants and antique shops. The entrance to the Jewish Museum was lined with flowers and candles, and remains closed to the public today.

Ine Van Wymersch, a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office said it was still too early to confirm whether the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism.

She said: “From the images we have seen, we can deduce that the perpetrator probably acted alone and was well prepared.”

French President Mr Hollande said: “The anti-Semitic nature of the act - a shooting, with intent to kill, in the Jewish Museum of Brussels - cannot be denied.”

“We must do everything to fight against anti-Semitism and racism," he told news channel I-Tele.

Suspect: a CCTV image shows a man wearing a dark cap and a blue jacket enter the building (Picture: EPA)

Hours after the Brussels shootings, two Jews were attacked and beaten in Paris as they left a synagogue in the suburb of Creteil wearing traditional Jewish clothing.

Victims Emmanuel and Miriam Riva, both in their 50s, were described by friends as former Israeli civil servants who were in Belgium on vacation.

An Israeli official said Emmanuel Riva had formerly worked for Nativ, a government agency that played a covert role in fostering Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union.

A Belgian man who was also injured in the shooting remained in critical condition in hospital, authorities said.