Paris Suspect, Salah Abdeslam, Charged for Brussels Shootout That Injured Belgian Police

Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the Paris attacks has been charged on April 21 with attempted murder over a shootout in Brussels, Belgium, with police last month.
Paris Suspect, Salah Abdeslam, Charged for Brussels Shootout That Injured Belgian Police
|Updated:

Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the Paris attacks was charged on April 21 with attempted murder after a shootout in Brussels with authorities last month.

Abdeslam, a French citizen of Moroccan descent who grew up in Belgium, is also accused of being involved in the terrorist attacks in Paris last November, where 130 people were killed.

Abdeslam, 26, was arrested on March 18 after a shootout in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek. He was shot in the leg during the raid as he exited an apartment and tried to escape. Abdeslam had been on the run for four months and was Europe’s No. 1 fugitive.

Officials say four police officers were shot at and slightly injured on March 15,  as they conducted a search in an apartment in the Forest district, which they thought was vacant. Authorities fatally shot an Algerian suspect, and Abdeslam’s fingerprints were found. Abdeslam was arrested three days later.

“Salah Abdeslam has been charged today with attempted murder in the case opened after the gunbattle in Forest during which several police officers were injured,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement, according to AFP.