Two Dutch people arrested for fatal shooting of 11-year-old in Antwerp

A Dutch man and woman have been arrested after an investigation into the death of an 11-year-old girl in Antwerp at the beginning of 2023, the Belgian Public Prosecution Service announced. The girl died after a shooting at a house in Merksem, Antwerp. Her father, aged 58, was also wounded in the shooting along with her elder sisters, aged 13 and 18.

The suspects were identified as a 31-year-old man a 24-year-old woman. Their role in the death is still being investigated. The Belgian Public Prosecutors could not say where they were arrested.

Dutch Public Prosecution Service in Amsterdam confirmed that the man arrested is from Amsterdam after AT5 nitially reported the information. Belgium has asked the authorities in the Netherlands to hand over the two suspects.

A 53-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man from Brussels were arrested earlier in the investigation. The man in question was released on Tuesday, according to the Belgian prosecutors.

Several homes were raided by investigators on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning in the Netherlands, including in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Breda. The Dutch police and Public Prosecution Service cooperated with the Belgian authorities on this operation.

Gunshots were fired on Nieuwdreef in Antwerp on January 9, 2023, striking the home in question.. The bullets went through the garage door to a kitchen area where the family was eating. The mayor of Antwerp, Bart De Wever, alleged shortly after the shooting that it was connected to drug-related crime in Antwerp. The police there already suspected the possibility that Dutch people may have been involved in the incident. The case was profiled on the Dutch police crime program, Opsporing Verzocht, last week.