A group of children aged between 8 and 12 shot at a gift shop owner, Valérie D'Hauwers, with airsoft pistols. "It felt real," she told Bruzz, who reported the incident on Monday morning.
Around 15:00 on 30 January, three young boys stormed the Neuf Gift Store on Rue Antoine Dansaert in central Brussels. "They immediately threw things on the ground and caused chaos," D'Hauwers recalls.
After she confronted the boys, they came back and forth; one of the boys attempted to enter the storage room, prompting D'Hauwers to intervene, pulling the boy out by his sleeve, and closing the door behind them.
"That was not the end," she said. The boys then started kicking the door, and after D'Hauwers came out to chase them away, the boys pulled their sweaters up to show they had revolvers in their pockets. "I assumed they were toy guns. They also abused and goaded me: 'Are you going to call the police?' they laughed."
The boys later returned and shot at her with airsoft guns. These are low-power air guns designed to shoot small-calibre plastic or metal, mainly used for recreational, simulation, and training purposes. "It felt as if they were pointing a real gun at me," said D'Hauwers.
D'Hauwers then called the police and filed a complaint. She told Bruzz that the police had identified and arrested the three boys, although the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone had not confirmed that by Sunday evening.
Several shops in the area have confirmed to Bruzz that it was not the first time that these boys disturbed the streets. Bruzz was also able to view surveillance footage that showed three young boys weaving what looked like black pistols, and seemingly imitating robbing the store, as part of a game.
D'Hauwers said that her first instinct was to keep it quiet, but having spoken to friends and family, she decided to share her story.
"I think the worst thing is that there were so many people on the street. No one did anything. Not when they were stomping against my display case, not when I was shot. Who thinks that's normal?" she said.
D'Hauwers hopes that the arrest of the three will lead to real intervention. "I think it is important that this cannot go unpunished. It is not because our store is located in Brussels that we have no right to security. We should never normalise this."
