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Tel Aviv Shooting Leaves 2 Dead and 7 Wounded Gunman Kills 2 in Tel Aviv in Attack on a Busy Street
(about 3 hours later)
TEL AVIV — A gunman opened fire on a popular bar and other shops in the center of Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon, killing two people and wounding at least seven others. The assault created mayhem along a busy street and led to an intense manhunt by the authorities. The suspect was still at large late Friday. TEL AVIV — A gunman whom relatives identified as an Arab citizen of Israel opened fire in the center of Tel Aviv on Friday, killing two Israeli Jews at a crowded bar and wounding at least five others. The assault created mayhem along a busy street and led to an intense manhunt by the authorities. The suspect was still at large late Friday.
The attacker, who in video footage appeared to be dressed in black and wearing glasses, opened fire on a cafe, a sushi restaurant and what seemed to be his main target, the Simta pub, whose manager was killed, Israeli news media reported. The assault was carried out in broad daylight on Dizengoff Street, one of the city’s main commercial arteries, and it immediately raised fears of a new type of violence in an already volatile atmosphere.
Israel has experienced a surge in Palestinian violence recently that has included stabbings, shootings and vehicular attacks, but the coastal city of Tel Aviv has been mostly untouched. The attack took place against the backdrop of a recent wave of assaults mostly carried out by Palestinians from the West Bank or East Jerusalem using knives, cars, and, in a few cases, guns. In footage from security cameras, the gunman was seen stepping out of a health food store, calmly aiming and shooting along the street with some kind of submachine gun.
The motive for Friday’s shootings was not immediately clear. But the authorities were cautious about labeling the shooting a terrorist attack. Hours after the assault the minister of public security, Gilad Erdan, said on Israeli television that it was still unclear whether the motive for the attack was political, terrorist or criminal in nature.
Several hours after the attack, attention focused on a 29-year-old Arab man from Arara, a northern Arab-Israeli town. Gilad Erdan, the minister of public security, would not confirm the man’s identity, but Israeli media said the man’s father, a volunteer Israeli policeman, had identified him from security camera footage. The police refused to identify the suspect, who managed to escape. The police later announced that no details related to the shootings would be made public while the investigation was underway.
Sami Melhem, a relative of the suspect and a lawyer, said in an interview that the Israeli police were interrogating the man’s father. He said the rest of the family was too distraught to talk. Ynet, a leading Israeli news site, said that the suspect had “expressed support for Daesh” in the past, referring to the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. If the gunman turns out to have been inspired by the extremist group, or was sent by that group or any other militant organization, that would represent a dangerous escalation in the area, according to Israeli analysts.
Mr. Melhem said the suspect had been jailed for five years in the past for trying to seize a weapon from a soldier. He said the man had psychological problems and possibly an addition to drugs or alcohol. But a relative of the man widely believed to be behind the attack played down any profound ideological motivation. In a telephone interview he said that the man suspected in the shootings had psychological disorders and that it was likely that he was addicted to drugs or alcohol.
“He has severe depression and unusual behavior,” Mr. Melhem said. The relative, Sami Melhem, a lawyer who said he had represented the suspect in the past, identified him as a 29-year-old resident of Arara, an Arab town in northern Israel. “He has severe depression and unusual behavior,” Mr. Melhem said.
The suspect’s time in jail, as well as reports that his cousin was killed by the police, suggests that some of the family had a history of grievances with the authorities, though the fact that the man’s father was a volunteer policeman complicates that picture. Israeli media said that the suspect’s father, who volunteered with the Israeli police, had recognized his son in the security camera footage shown on television and had alerted the authorities. Mr. Melhem added that the police were questioning the suspect’s father and said that other family members were too distraught to talk.
On Friday, people near Dizengoff Street, the area that was attacked, described a chaotic scene. Mr. Melhem said that the 29-year-old had spent five years in an Israeli jail for trying to seize a soldier’s weapon. According to reports in the Israeli news media, a cousin of the suspect was fatally shot by a police officer about 10 years ago while he was trying to steal a car, and the suspect had wanted to use a soldier’s weapon to avenge his cousin’s death.
At least 20 people in Israel have been killed over the past three months by Palestinian assailants mostly acting alone, without the assistance of a known organization. About 130 Palestinians have been killed during the same period, up to two-thirds of them while carrying out attacks, or attempting to attack Israelis, according to the police. Others have been killed in clashes with the Israeli security forces in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and along Israel’s border with Gaza.
Only a few of the recent attacks have taken place in Tel Aviv or its environs.
Friday’s attacker appeared in the video footage to be dressed in black and wearing glasses. He opened fire on businesses including a pub, a cafe and a sushi restaurant — but his main target appeared to be the pub, the Simta.
The men who were killed were identified as Alon Bakal, a Tel Aviv resident and the manager of the pub, and Shimon Ruimi, from the southern town of Ofakim.
“When I walked out, I saw the mess: a person lying on the road, full of blood, and the other store near the pub destroyed, with all its windows blown out,” said Haim Pinto, 40, the owner of a nearby jewelry store.“When I walked out, I saw the mess: a person lying on the road, full of blood, and the other store near the pub destroyed, with all its windows blown out,” said Haim Pinto, 40, the owner of a nearby jewelry store.
He said he had rushed to hide in the bathroom of his store after a woman ran toward him, screaming: “There’s a terrorist. Run.”He said he had rushed to hide in the bathroom of his store after a woman ran toward him, screaming: “There’s a terrorist. Run.”
Israeli security forces rushed into nearby streets searching for the gunman. One police officer, an assault rifle hanging from her shoulder, leapt onto a man’s bicycle — shouting, “Get out of the way!” — to navigate the crowded streets, according to Ben Hartman, a reporter for The Jerusalem Post who lives nearby. Israeli security forces rushed into nearby streets searching for the gunman. Dozens of people gathered as plainclothes security officers, riot police officers and intelligence officers cordoned off and canvassed the area, which was strewn with shards of glass. Several of the officers presented business owners with court orders allowing them to seize security-camera footage.
Dozens of people gathered as plainclothes security officers, riot police officers and intelligence agents cordoned off and canvassed the area, which was strewn with shards of glass. Several of the officers presented business owners with court orders to allow them to seize security-camera footage. Security footage broadcast on television appeared to show the gunman filling a plastic bag with nuts in the health food store, then emptying most of them out, apparently after checking the price with a cashier. He then appeared to place a bag or a backpack on a shopping cart, remove his gun, load it and step outside before opening fire from the sidewalk.
The wounded were taken to hospitals in Tel Aviv, Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the Israeli police, said on Twitter; the Israeli news media said that at least two of the wounded were in serious condition. The police, including counterterrorism units, were concentrating their search in the center of the city and were examining video-surveillance footage, Mr. Rosenfeld said. The attacker appeared to have initially fired single rounds before unleashing automatic fire, Israel’s Channel 2 News reported. He replaced the magazine of his firearm at least once during the attack.
Security footage broadcast on Israeli media that was shared on social media appeared to show that the gunman had first stopped in a grocery store, where he picked up and examined a bag of nuts. He appeared to have placed a bag or a backpack on a shopping cart, removed his gun, loaded it, stepped outside the store and then opened fire from the sidewalk.
Mr. Nisman and other Israeli security experts said the weapon seen in the video footage appeared to resemble a Swedish-made submachine gun.
In another video, which was also circulated online, patrons at the bar fled in panic as the gunman appeared.
The attacker appears to have initially fired single rounds, before unleashing automatic fire, Israel’s Channel 2 news station reported. He replaced the magazine of his firearm at least once during the attack.
“We realized within a second that it was a shooting,” said Assaf Ben Ezra, 40, the owner of a restaurant called the Meatpack, which is across the street from the Simta pub.“We realized within a second that it was a shooting,” said Assaf Ben Ezra, 40, the owner of a restaurant called the Meatpack, which is across the street from the Simta pub.
Mr. Ben Ezra opened the back door of his restaurant so that fleeing customers could move away from the street. He later emerged to see one of the victims lying on the ground, bleeding. Mr. Ben Ezra opened the back door of his restaurant so fleeing customers could move away from the street. He later emerged to see one of the victims lying on the ground, bleeding.
“I ran to help,” Mr. Ben Ezra said. “He was able to ask us, ‘Where is my dog?’ ” By evening, the crowds were gone and police cordons blocked off some of the shops. A few residents paused to watch the scene. One woman walked past and shouted, “Death to Arabs.”
At the Simta bar, workers and bystanders had placed small candles at the doors of the establishment, which were still askew. The lights were still on.