A suspected Tunisian extremist accused of shooting and killing two Swedish soccer fans in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, has been in Europe since 2011, according to Italian government and security sources.
On Tuesday morning, police in Belgium shot and killed the suspect, a 45-year-old man who posted a video on social media claiming to be the assailant and member of the Islamic State.
The two victims left a private party early, where they were watching the Belgium-Sweden soccer match.
The suspect allegedly pursued the two soccer fans along a Brussels street, shot them, and fled the scene, prompting an hourslong manhunt, authorities said.
Police ultimately found the man in the Schaerbeek neighborhood, where the shooting took place, according to federal prosecutors.
The assailant was a Tunisian man living illegally in Belgium who used a military weapon to kill the two Swedes and shoot a third victim, who is being treated for "severe injuries," Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at a news conference on Monday night.
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One of the Italian sources who told Reuters the man had been living in Europe since 2011 confirmed he spent time in Italy before moving to Sweden.
While in Sweden, the source said, he was expelled under the European Union’s "Dublin" rules, then returned to Italy.
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In 2016, law enforcement officials in Bologna, Italy marked the man as being at risk of Islamic radicalization, which meant he would be observed by intelligence agencies, despite not having a significant criminal record. Italian authorities then lost track of the suspect.
That year, Brussels, Belgian Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne said, Belgian authorities received an unconfirmed report from a foreign police agency saying the suspect had a "radicalized profile," and was ready to wage jihad in a warzone.
Fox News Digital's Lawrence Richard and Louis Casiano, as well as Reuters, contributed to this report.
