Probe reveals officer killed at airport ceremony committed suicide

Inquiry into death of Druze Border Guard officer during Sarkozi farewell ceremony officially determines he took his own life
Efrat Weiss

The revision committee appointed to investigate the shooting incident at the farewell ceremony for French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the David Ben-Gurion Airport officially determined that it was a suicide.

According to the committee, Border Guard officer Raid Asaad Ghanan, 32, of the Druze village of Beit Jan shot and killed himself a few minutes prior to the departure of the French president from Israel

Tragedy Strikes

Soldier dies in Sarkozy farewell ceremony / Roni Sofer

(Video) Drama at Ben-Gurion Airport: Raid Asaad Ghanan, a Border Guard officer tasked with perimeter security assignment during farewell ceremony for French president Sarkozy, shoots himself; VIPs at airports rushed away from scene by bodyguards

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Immediately upon hearing the shot, Sarkozy and his wife were rushed into their airplane. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres did not hear the gunshot, but the guards connected to the security forces’ communication system reported the firing and acted according to the proper emergency procedures in such cases. Olmert and Peres were quickly led to an armored vehicle.

Following the incident, the officer’s family members said that they do not believe it was a suicide. “We scornfully reject the claims that our son put an end to his life. He was a good-hearted, happy person. He had a family and there was no reason that he would do such a thing,” they said to Ynet.

In light of the claims and in order to officially confirm the case, Police Commissioner Dudi Cohen appointed the committee and Ghanan’s body was taken for autopsy at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute.

The committee’s findings stating that this was indisputably a suicide were presented to the police commissioner this past weekend. On Monday, he placed the family’s care in the hands of the army’s manpower branch.