Brussels records 57 shootings in the first seven months of 2026

Updated 23 August 2026, 16:00 CEST — Brussels. Federal police recorded 57 shootings across Brussels’ 19 municipalities between 1 January and 31 July 2026, according to figures published by BX1 and BRUZZ on 21 August. The incidents killed two people and injured 21, the two outlets reported.

The tally covers shootings recorded up to 31 July, rather than every incident reported in August. BX1 reported a further shooting in Saint-Gilles on the evening of 22 August in which one person was injured, but that case does not form part of the seven-month total. The Brussels public prosecutor was expected to provide further information on that investigation.

BRUZZ identified the two deaths included in the January-to-July figures as a fatal shooting in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode in January and another in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean during the night of 17 to 18 July. Investigators have examined possible links to the drug trade in both cases, BX1 reported, but the judicial inquiries have not established that connection publicly.

The new count follows an exceptionally violent 2025. The Federal Police annual report recorded 101 Brussels shootings that year, irrespective of motive, while BX1 and BRUZZ reported that those incidents left eight people dead and 43 injured. The police report says the Brussels Federal Judicial Police introduced strengthened monitoring and was handling 26 files concerning drug-related shootings.

The figures show that the frequency of gunfire remains high even though the human toll through July was below the full-year total for 2025. A straight-line projection would place 2026 close to last year’s number, but such an extrapolation is not a forecast because shootings do not occur at a uniform rate.

Police responses have combined investigations with visible deployment. After several shootings in its area in March, the Brussels-Midi police zone said it had intensified patrols and targeted checks with support from other Brussels zones and the federal police. A March 2026 regional order also cited 43 shootings, two deaths and 17 injuries between 4 September 2025 and 19 February 2026; it explicitly described those figures as provisional and not yet validated in the national police database.

Residents now await updated police figures covering August and the outcomes of the open homicide investigations. The principal unknowns remain how many 2026 incidents are connected to organised drug markets, how many suspects have been identified, and whether the pace of shootings will ease during the final five months of the year.