BELGIUM: SCENES OF ALL-NIGHT GUN BATTLE IN BRUSSELS

Record ID: 376992

  • Title: BELGIUM: SCENES OF ALL-NIGHT GUN BATTLE IN BRUSSELS
  • Date: 23rd July 1967
  • Summary: BULLET HOLES AND SMASHED WINDOWS OF HOUSE; POLICE SEARCHING; CROWDS. Initials PW/V/RM/K Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 7th August 1967 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRUSSELS: BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Reuters ID: LVA5IDP4QJJVWRH8FPYFX53V16QX
  • Story Text: TWO BRUSSELS POLICEMEN WERE INJURED DURING AN ALL-NIGHT GUN BATTLE IN A BRUSSELS SUBURB LAST NIGHT. THE BATTLE ENDED AT DAWN TODAY WHEN THE GUNMAN, A YOUNG SPANIARD, WALKED OUT OF THE FRONT DOOR OF A HOUSE WHERE HE HAD BEEN HOLDING OUT OF FIVE HOURS, AND SURRENDERED. A BELGIAN BUSINESSMAN WAS FOUND SHOT DEAD INSIDE THE HOUSE AFTER THE SPANIARDS HAD GIVEN HIMSELF UP.

    THE DRAMA BEGAN WHEN THE WIFE OF 29-YEAR-OLD BUSINESSMAN JOSE HUBAU CALLED THE POLICE AND SAID HER HUSBAND HAD BEEN DRIVEN TO A FLAT AND HELD PRISONER THERE BY A SPANIARD. WHEN POLICE ARRIVED AT THE FLAT IN A VAN, THE SPANIARD SMASHED A WINDOW AND OPENED FIRE. THE POLICE DRIVER WAS BADLY WOUNDED.

    FOR THE NEXT FIVE HOURS, THE SPANIARDS DEFIED A GUN AND TEAR-GAS ASSAULT. RIOT POLICE WERE CALLED IN, SEALED OFF A BLOCK AND EVACUATED RESIDENTS.

    THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT, THE SPANIARD KEPT UP A VOLLEY OF ACCURATE RIFLE SHOOTING, INJURING ANOTHER POLICEMAN AND SCARRING THE WALLS OF NEARBY HOUSES.

    THEN, AT EIGHT O'CLOCK THIS MORNING, THE SPANIARDS WALKED OUT OF THE APARTMENT HOUSE WITH HIS HANDS UP AND SURRENDERED. INSIDE, M. HUBAU WAS FOUND DEAD. THE SPANIARD, LATER IDENTIFIED AS BENEDICTO ESPINEDO, AGED 29, WAS IN CUSTODY.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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