The French-speaking Criminal Court in Brussels sentenced four young men to 14 years in prison on Tuesday for their involvement in a shooting in March 2024 at Place Saint-Antoine, Forest. Two others were acquitted.
Three people were injured during the incident, which was linked to a violent turf war between rival drug trafficking gangs in Brussels.
The shooting occurred during the night of 12 to 13 March 2024 at around 1:20 am. Armed with an Uzi submachine gun and a Kalashnikov-style automatic rifle, multiple individuals fired over 100 rounds.
Bullets struck the facades of buildings around the square, injuring three people, one of whom was left in critical condition.
Police identified the vehicle used by the shooters and later traced seven suspects, including one minor, through phone investigations.
The minor was placed under the care of a youth judge, while the six others were brought before the Brussels criminal court in mid-December 2025.
The Brussels public prosecutor requested prison sentences as high as 12 years for the defendants. Defence lawyers sought acquittals for some, arguing their clients’ presence at the scene could not be proven and the gunfire was indiscriminate, with no intent to kill.
The court dismissed this argument and handed effective 14-year prison sentences to four suspects for their participation in the shooting.
The two remaining suspects were acquitted due to insufficient evidence confirming their involvement.
