A baroness and art collector was shot dead outside her home in south Brussels on Wednesday morning with four bullets to the head, reportedly by her stepson.
Baroness Myriam Ullens, 70 – whose body was discovered Thursday morning – was with her husband, Baron Guy Ullens, 88, when she was killed in the village of Ohain, reportedly by Nicolas Ullens, who has since been detained by police.
Baron Ullens, the suspect’s father, survived the incident but reportedly suffered a bullet in the leg.
The pair were sitting outside their home in their car around 10 a.m. when Ullens fired six bullets aimed at his stepmother, who died at the scene, according to La Libre.
Ullens then reported to the local police of La Mazarine at 11 a.m.
According to reports, the Baroness and her stepson were involved in protracted disputes over inheritance issues and he accused her of “squandering” his billionaire father’s money.
Baroness Myriam Ullens was shot dead, allegedly by her stepson outside her home in the south of Brussels
According to reports, the Baroness and her stepson had longstanding disputes over inheritance issues
According to the publication, Ullens ambushed his parents’ car after a heated argument between the family at their estate.
He waited for them to leave before firing six rounds “in the direction of the victim.”
A representative of the Walloon Brabant judicial police said in a statement: ‘The suspect did not resist and explained that he had killed his stepmother.
“He had a gun with him, which has been confiscated. He has been deprived of his freedom.’
The 57-year-old suspect was heard on Thursday by an investigating judge, who arrested him and charged him with murder and violation of the law on armed weapons.
The alleged killer will appear in court on Monday, which will decide whether or not to detain him.
Baron Guy Ullens de Schooten and Baroness Myriam Ullens de Schooten pose during the Don Quichotte Ballet
The Baron and Baroness – who opened the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing – married in 1999 and have been influential art collectors ever since.
They began their career collecting classical Chinese art scroll paintings, before shifting their focus to contemporary art.
The couple opened the Ullens Center in 2007 – considered the first contemporary art museum in China at the time.
In 2004, Baroness Ullens, whose name was Mimi and who was a cancer patient, founded the Mimi Foundation to establish centers in hospitals to provide physical and mental therapy to patients undergoing cancer treatment.
In 2013 she co-organized an exhibition and benefit auction during Frieze Week in London in support of the Mimi Foundation.
‘If many of the artists in this project are Chinese, it’s because of our long and close relationship with them. This is just the tip of our iceberg, which we continue to closely monitor and collect from the new generation,” said the Baroness. Ocula at the time.
The couple opened the Ullens Center in 2007 – considered the first contemporary art museum in China at the time
‘A collection is like a living, breathing body. It evolves organically.’
Baroness Ullens was born in Colgone, Germany, in 1952.
Nicolas Ullens, a former Belgian state security officer, is one of the Baron’s four children with his first wife, Micheline Franckx.
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