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Reuters
British oil executive Nicholas Mockford is seen in an undated photo.
Police in Belgium are investigating the murder of a British oil executive who was shot and killed in front of his wife in Brussels in mid-October.
Nicholas Mockford, a 59-year-old executive for ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, was shot dead on Oct. 14 as he left a restaurant in Neder-over-Heembeek in northern Brussels. He died on the way to the hospital, police said.
In the immediate aftermath of Mockford’s murder, a judge imposed an order on police preventing them from releasing any details on the case or their investigation. But on Thursday, authorities decided to enlist the public’s help and released a brief description of the crime.
Mockford and his wife left the restaurant at about 10 p.m., the report said. They crossed the street toward a car when an assailant approached and hit Mockford’s wife several times in the face and tried to yank her bag away, police said.
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A second assailant then fired three shots at Mockford who later died at the scene, police said.
Authorities were initially investigating the case as a botched carjacking, Reuters reported, but in the days following Mockford’s murder, family members said they believed he may have been the victim of a professional hit by an assassin.
A police spokesperson said officers were approaching the “difficult investigation” from several angles, after Mockford’s relatives reportedly raised fears that he had been targeted for assassination, the Independent reported.
“He was shot so calmly and so quickly, it smacks horribly of a professional hit, but we can’t fathom why,” the relative told the Independent. “He isn’t’ the type to cave in to blackmail and it just doesn’t compute.”
Prosecutors declined to say if they were investigating the case as a possible contract killing and declined to comment further on the details or circumstances of the case until the perpetrators were caught.
Mockford was a manager within the chemicals unit at ExxonMobil and had worked over a period of 38 years in Britain, Belgium and Singapore, Reuters reported.
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Oil giant ExxonMobil said Friday it did not believe the murder, was linked to Mockford’s work.
“We were shocked by the tragic death of Nick Mockford, one of our employees, a fortnight ago in Burssels,” the Texas-based company said in a statement. “Mr. Mockford was a department manager at our office close to Brussels but we have no indication that the incident was work related.”
Brussels police said their "difficult" investigation remains open.
“We are investigating all different angles, and it depends on how quickly we can find elements of information," Genevieve Seressia, a spokesperson for the Brussels prosecutor's office said. "It’s impossible to predict how long this can take – it might be handled quickly, but could take a long time, even years.”
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Leave a Comment:
Meh, who cares.
Probably his widow and children. Idiot.
If a poor man gets killed in the street, it is called homicide at random, or a drug bust.
But if an elite executive gets killed, then it is called a hit by a professional assassin, capish?
I'd love to know on what evidence this victim's family based their cry of a "professional assassin"? If he were getting death threats, where was his bodyguard? It isn't like he couldn't afford them. If he wasn't, why is there any thought it was a "hit"? Did he know something about ExxonMobil that they didn't want to get out, and the family knows this? The police didn't find it looked like a "hit" when they started the investigation. So it comes down to is the family simply looking to make a bigger incident of an already tragic death, or is something more rotten in ExxonMobil's house than is usual (which would have to be pretty bad as they are one of the worlds most hated companies according to Forbes). If it is the latter, will the public ever hear about it? The court already tried once to keep the police quiet. A lot of questions and few public answers.
Celtic pagan, it's guilt that makes them think that, the same deep seated guilt that makes conservatives flock to the mega churches, the same guilt that makes them want to cut all our social programs so they can pour more money into the military, the same guilt that makes them think everybody is out to get them.
The man who spends his life looking over his shoulder worried that someone is going to stab him in the back does so because he has spent his life stabbing others in the back. We fear others because our foreign policy has made others fear us. We worry that someone will try and force their way of life on us because we continually force our way of life on others. We are afraid the "black man" will take over and enslave us because we enslaved him. We worry that illegal immigrants will overrun our country and steal our land because we were once illegal aliens who stole this land. We are afraid that everyone want what we have because everything we have we took from someone else.
One less 1%er. Who cares.
What a heartless idiot! Karma is a bitch! To imply that anybody deserves to be murdered because of their social class is twisted. You might need to seek professional help!
This is going to be an ongoing thing. Given the way the oil companys rape the rest of the world.
Exxon has a fat insurance policy on this executive ... and is about to collect ... His wife ... she is probably terrified for her life, and her children's well-being.
Really? You can't think of any reason somebody would want to kill an Exxon oil executive? I would say that anyone from Nigeria has motive to do so. "Oooops we spilled 546 million gallons, after cleanup we won't be able to profit so let's just leave the country without doing anything."
Exxon also did it.
When up a small per cent controls a large per cent and the upward mobility is all but gone the middle is forced to compate with a third world living standard what do you expect! I"m surprise it took so long and I expect to see much more of this sort or thing, it would be far better if folkds were marching instad we are prending nothing has happen so ots under ground but make no mistake about it IT"S THERE.
SPELL CHECK please
krzy and river...what a couple of f*cking scumbag imbeciles you are. ExxonMobil has over 90,000 people worldwide working for them and you think they are all criminals?
nope, just the executives.
I grew up in an executive household ... and guess what I was told? Profits over life. Period. And never have a conscience when working as a Executive. NEVER. Great lesson. Now, I'm off to euthanize some kittens so we can sell cat, dog, kitten and puppy corpses for $3 a piece to a Class B broker. Seriously. This is what we do and your local city allows it. You Tube it.
Hopefully just the beginning ....
One thing about and upset Eskimo from Valdez in a kayak, sooner or later he will paddle his way to victory.
Hope all these creeps are looking over their shoulders . . .
Good Riddance, Hopefully not the last one!!!
Yeah, I guess terrorism is only a bad thing when it is done to you. If somebody you don't like or care about is targeted, then it's all good.
Right?
Funny how the human mind works, or pretends to.
@Dman
One man's terrorist is another mans freedom fighter...
Don't hate the player , hate the game.
To those celebrating this killing as something good because it was an oil company worker who got killed, be careful what you celebrate. Individuals or groups that start using violence to correct perceived significant historical wrong behavior can escalate into using violence for almost any perceived wrong. The pirates that operate off the East coast of Africa are a good example. What started out as a way for fishermen to protect historical fishing grounds from poachers and illegal toxic waste dumping, when the government would or could not do so, turned into a general piracy operation looking for easy money. They have now killed several people who were not in any way connected to illegal fishing or toxic waste dumping. They have ventured very far from the fishing areas they were originally protecting.
The people you celebrate because they killed an oil executive, may one day decide you have "offended" them and seek to kill you also.
Really? I doubt that the little people will be targeted.
"Really? I doubt that the little people will be targeted."
I am sure that is what Stalin's victims though all the way to the prison cells and the GULAG.
Yep, always sad to read about someone dying. He was killed for a reason, however, it may never be brought to light; accurately or truthfully. Much like a military training accident or maybe not an accident. Maybe just the beginning of more to follow...
These posts are still very entertaining to read, especially MTKBC
Rock on man, you seem to know what's what.
They better call Inspector Jacques Clouseau. They're going to need all the help they can get to solve this one.
There is a social class war slowly taking place in the world. The wealth is in the hands of three percent group. Things will get worse before they can get better in the next forty years.
You cannot stop us ... we have more money and will drive more of you into poverty and homelessness.
My money is on an organized crime hit. This shooting was too precise and professional.
A terrorist would have taken him out with an automatic weapon or a bomb.
A lone wolf crazy person would probably have been more sloppy, and have been caught.
So that leaves a paid killing by a professional, which begs the question of motive.
I put mine ondrug traffiking, like many in Congress. Maybe in twenty I can run for office. Who knows!
This sounds like a Job for Beretta! Wait, check that, Mattock! Wait, check that, Sherlock Holmes! Wait, check that, 007!
Motive? We are gouged every step of the way from the board room to the pump---I'm surprised more of the S.O.B.'s haven't been targeted. Good riddance to bad rubbish---hope the guy reloads and takes out a few more of the greedy bastards!
You got that right! I put all my income and expenses on Excel spreasheet, guess what?
I'm practically working for Exxon. They take all my money. Here in Germany, a gallon of gas cost ten dollars. A full tank is $170.oo
Probably just a f^@&ed up carjacking. But we gotta do the "international intrigue" Hollywood routine, because otherwise it wouldn't be newsworthy enough for a story about a bigshot.
Yeah big oil is corrupt. It's known that they have spent money to ensure things like renewable energy, and fuel efficient vehicles don't catch on so fast. Hmm, yeah prevent progression and created scarcity, so we can be stinking rich. So yeah, big oil executives should be fearing for their lives.
What a moronic statement.
Really? Perhaps you can enlighten us with your factual sources to prove that. And sorry, but Cosmopolitan Magazine and National Enquirer don't qualify.
Probably a professional hit. Target the wife first with blows to the face to impair her vision so she can't give a proper description of the assailants. Pretend to take her purse so it looks like a robbery then tap the husband three times in the chest. All done calmly and quickly. Sounds very professional. Motives for the hit can be speculative........too many to single out just one. This case will take a lot of good police work. Good luck to law enforcement on this one.
It was obviously a professional hit ordered by the Prince William Sound Seagull Gang.
Got just what he deserved. All the capitalist-imperialist pigs should be executed.
You are ruining the conversation.
Karl Marx called. He wants his manifesto back.
irving...Osama bin Laden had the same opinion.
Well irving aren't you a good little Stalinist. What 60 million dead, concervitiv estimate, in all comunist countries is not enough for you. Why don't you go live in North Korea, there are now capitilst there, I am sure you would love it.
Vote Romney and you're sure to see Corporate War.
Corporate war = happening now, just not in the way you think. We are waging war against the little people. Have you tested your flammable water lately? Profits over life.
He isn’t’ the type to cave in to blackmail . . .
why blackmail? is this a lead or what?
Blackmail = pay, or die. He paid, but still died. He knew a bit too much ... such as, information about the manipulation of gas prices seen on every street corner. Ever wonder why every gas station prices their fuel at the same $$$?
Cooley, get your terms straight; Blackmail is the threat of exposing information about someone they want to hide, the blackmailer holds that person up for money or other valuables in exchange for 'keeping the secret'.
On the other hand, Extortion is the threat of harm/injury to a person if a thing of value isn't provided to the extortionist.
That being the case, if blackmail is mentioned in the article, it doesn't make much sense that he was killed for not 'caving in to blackmail'.
another tricky . . ?
Police in So California are racketeering in mobile also,and come to find out they were working with an Iranian terrorist that owns a Tow co.So at least we found out WHO is helping terrorists access our D.O.T.Wright Commercial vehicles and that does include our hijacked gasoline trucks,those tow yards are using cold plates to do fraud-and I also have an ICC case against them for conspiracy with Russian gypsy Jew terrorists that kidnapped my daughter,one of the Jewish family's (they claim to be Jewish mafia -but are classified as terrorist by US Military Police) also own an Inland Empire,Ca Tow Co.
Oh, you speak of the little things. Police aren't racketeering ... and your tow company is not conspiring against you ... unless you count the listening devices we planted in your home, car and ...
that poor dog
Murdered Executive? Not surprising in an overpriced, billion dollar profitable industry. Waiting for more executives, without consciences, to be murdered next ... sad, but ...
"The man who steals a hundred dollars is a common ordinary thief, but if a man steal a million we are so amazed at his genius that we sometimes forget to punish his rascality."
-William Jennings Bryan