Liege killer battered drug dealer to death the night before gun rampage that killed three people
Get daily updates directly to your inbox + Subscribe Thank you for subscribing! Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
The killer of two police officers murdered a convicted drug dealer the night before he launched his gun ­rampage in Liege.
Alleged jihadi Benjamin Herman, 31, reportedly ­bludgeoned Michael Wilmet, 30, with a hammer before killing three more people in the Belgian city.
They had met while in prison.
Confirming Herman’s first kill was 50 miles outside Liege, interior minister Jan Jambon said: “There are signs he was ­radicalised in prison, but did it drive him to commit these acts?
“It could have been he had nothing to look forward to, he killed someone the night before... he may have been on drugs.”
(Image: Collect Unknown)
(Image: REUTERS)
Herman – on two-day prison leave – went on to slaughter two policewomen with their own guns on Tuesday, before opening fire on a 22-year-old passerby.
Herman was shot dead by police after going on to take a cleaner hostage in a city centre school.
Yesterday Bernadette Hennart wept as she lay tributes to her daughter, policewoman Soraya Belkacemi, 53.
Soraya, mum to 13-year-old twins, was killed ­alongside Lucile Garcia, 45.
(Image: Twitter)
(Image: REUTERS)
The grieving father of Cyril ­Vangriecken, 22, an aspiring teacher from Vottem, near Liege, called him “perfect”.
Reports say he was shot in his mum’s car.
Mr Jambon said Herman, convicted of drug offences, was flagged up as a potential violent Islamist in recent security reports but was thought to be a fringe figure. Prosecutors said there was evidence this was a “terrorist murder”.
Justice minister Koen Geens said he felt “responsible”, adding: “I have to examine my own conscience.”