Nordine Amrani was born on November 15, 1978, in Ixelles, a neighborhood in Brussels, Belgium. He was a French-speaking Belgian with Moroccan roots. Nordine was orphaned at a young age and raised in foster homes. This experience shaped much of his early life. As an adult, he worked as a welder. He had a strong interest in firearms and a history of legal troubles related to weapon possession.

In his personal life, Nordine was living with his fiancée, who worked as a home care nurse. His life involved various challenges, particularly his instability growing up without his parents. By 2010, Amrani faced significant legal issues. He was sentenced to 58 months in prison for possessing a large amount of weapons and illegal substances. He had been released just a year before his final violent act.

Nordine could not speak Arabic and was not a follower of Islam, according to his lawyer. There were suggestions that he had grievances against society, which influenced the direction his life took.

On December 13, 2011, Nordine Amrani committed a violent attack in Liège, Belgium. At around 12:33 PM, he threw grenades and fired a rifle at people in the busy Place Saint-Lambert. There were many shoppers and visitors in the square that day due to a Christmas market. The chaos began when witnesses reported hearing explosions and gunshots. Many initially thought there were multiple attackers.

Amrani fired shots from the rooftop of a bakery across the square. Emergency services responded quickly and sealed off the area. During the attack, he killed five people and injured over 120 others, seven of whom were seriously hurt. Among the victims were two teenage boys aged 15 and 17 and a 17-month-old child who later died in the hospital. A 75-year-old woman succumbed to her injuries two days after the attack, and a 20-year-old man died from head injuries a couple of weeks later.

Before this attack, he had murdered a 45-year-old woman in his apartment. After the attacks, Amrani took his own life using a revolver.