William Hershkovitz, the American volunteer who opened fire
at the Leonardo Club Hotel in Eilat on Friday after being fired the day before, arrived at the resort to exact vengeance on his former employers, the police said Tuesday.
Hershkovitz, 24, a Jewish man from Poughkeepsie, NY, who was in Israel
as part of the "Oranim" Israeli-American exchange project, killed 33-year-old Armando Abed, from Mi'ilya, a local council in the western Galilee, who was employed at the hotel as a sous-chef.
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Hershkovitz himself was killed when the Police Counterterrorism Unit stormed the hotel.
According to the police, an axe was found among Hershkovitz' belongings. The findings have led investigators to believe that the incident was premeditated.
CCTV footage reviewed by investigators clearly showed Hershkovitz assaulting the hotel's security guard from behind, brutally throwing him on the ground and then wrestling him for his weapon.
With the guard's gun in hand, he then ran into the hotel lobby and opened fire.
According to the sequence of events, as compiled by police following witness statements and the CCTV footage, after firing in the lobby, Hershkovitz ran into the hotel kitchen, pulled out the axe and threatened the employees present.
He then shot Abed three times and barricaded himself in the kitchen, refusing to negotiate with CTU officers already on the scene.
When the officers stormed the premises and arrived in the kitchen area, Hershkovitz began shooting at them. They returned fire, killing him.
The Eilat Police said that the investigation so far has cleared the security guard from any wrongdoing.
"A comprehensive review of all the hotels whose guards are trained by the police's civilian security unit is underway to make sure all of their security protocols are updated," the police said.
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