NOS News•today, 01:53
At the Belgian town of Tongeren, not far from the border near Maastricht, a man was shot dead last weekend who was looking for old coins with a metal detector. According to Belgian media, he may have been mistaken for an animal by a hunter. A suspect is in custody.
The body of the victim, a 31-year-old Belgian from Tessenderlo, was found Monday morning in a field in the village of Rutten. Beside him lay a metal detector and a backpack.
On Wednesday, the police arrested a suspect, according to Het Belang van Limburg, a 48-year-old hunter from Antwerp. He is fully cooperating with the investigation, says his lawyer.
Mistaken for wild animal
It is unclear what exactly happened, but according to Belgian media everything points to an accident. The hunter and the victim did not know each other. Their paths would have crossed and the hunter may have opened fire, thinking the metal detectorist was a wild animal. Another scenario is that the victim was hit by a stray bullet.
A friend of the 31-year-old man writes on social media that they regularly searched for old coins together, but that the victim had gone out alone on Sunday evening. “I have lost a friend for life. I will never forget you.”
