Record year for shootings in Brussels

This year saw a record number of shootings in the Belgian capital, with 96 incidents so far this year, reports Bruzz.

Federal police said the number of shootings was double that of 2022. They define a shooting as "an incident on a public road or in a freely accessible place in which multiple shots are fired and/or someone is injured or killed by the use of a firearm".

While it is clear that most shootings are connected to drug-related violence, police have not released exact figures for this.

The number of fatalities is in line with last year: eight in 2025, compared to nine last year. The total number of shootings, at 96, seems to point to a "new normal" of two shootings per week in Brussels on average, most of which do not result in fatalities.

In turf wars between rival gangs, people are often shot in the leg as a warning. In the most recent incident, near the Bethlehem Square in Saint-Gilles, a building facade was shot at.

The locations of shootings are very similar to last year’s, with well-known drug shooting spots concentrated in the wider area around Brussels-Midi station.

The crowd barriers blocking off access to Clemenceau Square in Anderlecht, which was shaken by a series of shootings at the beginning of this year, were only recently removed.

Police say that tackling the issue is difficult in part because drug trafficking operates in a tiered system, with undocumented migrants or minors often being sent out to shoot rival dealers. As a result, medium and large dealers remain out of sight and undetected.

The public prosecutor's office and the police have recently begun focusing more on the demand side of drug trafficking, and more specifically on the more affluent clientele. As a result of a new measure, police can now confiscate cars and mobile phones from drug users.

“It’s the consumers in cars who make the sales outlets profitable,” Saint-Gilles mayor Jean Spinette (PS) said regarding this new strategy.

“The residents are tired of it. Just as you don't buy conflict diamonds or clothes made by exploited children, you don't buy drugs in neighbourhoods that are becoming unsafe as a result of drug trafficking.”