Man (45) who was arrested with a lot of police force in Beringen was known at Parket for three ax attacks (Beringen)

Around 20.30 things went wrong on the Schaffensesteenweg on Tuesday evening. « After an incident between the 45-year-old man and both local residents and the police, the man entrenched himself in his home, » says Anna Degraen of the Limburg public prosecutor’s office. According to our info, it would have been an altercation and the man reacted very unpredictably. Although he would not have been armed.

Read too. Street in Beringen closed by incident, police en masse present: « Buren asked to stay inside »

« The police took the necessary measures to secure the environment and the special assistance team Sau-Tert came to the scene. The Schaffensesteenweg was closed. Around 23.20 the man was arrested and the road was liberated again. No one was injured. »

Traumas on military missions

The fact is that the forties in the past often showed aggressive behavior. In June 2020, the former soldier appeared before the court in Hasselt for three attacks, each with an ax. The public prosecutor then spoke about « hallucinatory facts » and asked the qualification attempt manslaughter.

On May 14, 2017, the man attacked the Halve Maan in Diest two friends in a car. He threw the ax against their car, but the victims were able to shake the soldier at the time. A day later he threatened an agent who, after his shift, equiped the carpool parking in Lummen. The Palenaar shouted that he was going to destroy him and cut with an ax on the windshield of the car and in the seat. The agent managed to escape from his car and hid in the bushes. On January 13, 2018, the man finally destroyed two cars in Beringen with an ax.

During the court case it turned out that the man was struggling with drug and alcohol abuse after traumatic experiences on military missions. As a result, he had received a mental disorder. The public prosecutor progressed five years in prison, but the court ordered the man’s internment in September 2020. However, he would have appealed and ultimately not interned. What will happen to him after Tuesday evening arrest is not yet clear.