2023-10-18 14:58:00
Could we have arrested the terrorist Abdesalem Lassoued much earlier than around 8 a.m. the morning following the attack? According to information from Sudinfo, the 45-year-old Tunisian might have been intercepted by the police only an hour and a half following carrying out his attack.
In fact, Lassoued was spotted around 8:40 p.m., but authorization to intervene was allegedly refused to the police. “Two police officers from the BTA (Bijstands Team d’Appui) of the Brussels North police spotted Abdesalem Lassoued around 8:40 p.m. as part of an observation at his home on avenue Huart Hamoir, in Schaerbeek. They immediately requested authorization to intervene from the DPA (Administrative Police Directorate), but this was refused.“, explains the source to our colleagues.
Also read Terrorist attack in Brussels: who was Abdessalem Lassoued? The profile of the killer is becoming clearer, here is what we know
The police officers were reportedly ordered to maintain visual contact with the terrorist, but they lost track of him. “He was on foot, not on a scooter, but they lost contact with him. “The terrorist was only finally located in a café on rue Van Oost, in Schaerbeek, around 7:37 a.m. thanks to the unexpected report of a witness. One of the eight BTA responders neutralized him by shooting him in the shoulder following an attempt to grab his AR-15 assault rifle“.
Fortunately, despite his late neutralization, the terrorist did not cause any other victims. But then why didn’t these two police officers intervene? “There were only two people involved, they were unable to intervene not only because we were not yet sure that it was really the terrorist – it was the discovery of his cell phone that made it possible to confirm that it was really him – but also because intervening in these conditions might have put them and the population in danger“, explains the Sudinfo source.
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