Bank gunman's sister: He was mentally damaged
Sister of man who shot four people dead at Beersheba bank on Monday says 'things he experienced in the army led to deterioration'
"The sorrow we feel for the victims' families is great. We are people of faith, and believe everything that happens is guided from above. But my heart is bleeding, and we are devastated over what the families are going through," said Kochava Orion, the sister of the man who shot four people dead and then killed himself at a bank in Beersheba on Monday.
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Speaking to Ynet about her brother, Itamar Alon, Orion said "there are also many good things to say about him. He was a man who gave everything for the State of Israel, but things happened to him during his army service - they caused the (deterioration). Our family paid a heavy price, just as other families of injured soldiers have. Itamar was defined as a mentally damaged because of what he experienced then.
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The sister added: "He came from a good family with eight children who all contribute – all of them gave their hearts and souls. There is a lawyer in the family; another one works in the medical field; no one is a parasite, no one is a burden.
"But I have been distanced from the family for many years; I haven't belonged for a long time; I do not live in Beersheba. I am a simple woman; far be it from me to provide answers to this affair," she said.
Alon had reportedly been turned down Monday morning by the bank when he tried to extend his credit line, because of a NIS 6,000 ($1,639) debt. At around noon he returned to the Hapoalim Bank branch, located on Beersheba's Yohana Jabotinsky Street, with his personal firearm and killed four people. He also took a bank employee hostage, but he released the woman about an hour into the incident and then killed himself.
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