Two women died following an altercation in Anderlecht on Sunday evening. One of the women was armed with a knife and had been struggling with mental health issues. The second was a friend who had come to help her, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Police arrived at a house on Dichtkunstlaan at around 17.00 following reports of what appeared to be an argument. The officers found one seriously injured woman and one armed woman who then jumped out of the window. Both died of their injuries.
Angèle, who was living with the armed woman, called the police. She told VRT her housemate had not been herself for several days. “When I came back from the shop, there was a large knife on the table. She was waving it about. I was scared.”
Her housemate shut herself in her room with several knives before a friend arrived and tried to talk to her.
“I rang the police when I heard screaming. I was on the phone with them for about 10 minutes,” she says. She saw the emergency services arriving and tried to reason with her housemate. “I said to her, ‘Please, let’s find a solution’. But she panicked and jumped out of the window. It was terrible.”
The incident “appears to involve a woman with psychiatric issues and a friend who wanted to support her”, a spokesperson for the public prosecutor’s office said.
For confidential support in English in relation to mental health or suicide, call the Community Help Service on 02 616 2626 or visit chsbelgium.org.