VIDEO - Before being killed in a rocket attack on Kibbutz Sa'ar north of Nahariya, Dave Lalshouk told his neighbor that he refused to leave to the center of the country with his wife and daughter and decided to stay in the kibbutz to look after the properties of residents there.
Lalshouk was killed by shrapnel from a rocket as he drove his bicycle in the kibbutz.
Since the incident friends and family flocked to Lalshouk's home. His friends tried to call his wife and daughter, who left the kibbutz to the center of Israel .His second daughter, who lives in the United States, was also informed of the tragedy.
Lalshouk stayed in the kibbutz with his dog Duke, who stayed by his owner's body after the attack.
- 'He loved animals'
Alberto Ubin, a friend and neighbor, said: "He emigrated from Boston 20 years ago, met a woman from Nahariya, married her and conceived two daughters. 15 years ago the came to the kibbutz and we were the family who adopted them. I am trying to think what made him leave the house when the siren was sounded, to mount the bicycle and ride on the road. I think he tried to bring a dog he adopted lately inside the shelter."
Ubin was at home when the rocket fell nearby. "I heard the explosion and understood immediately what had happened. I ran to the fire and realized that the rocket had hit a house I lived in in the past. A neighbor stopped me and said 'don't carry on' and explained who was injured. I cried, and all memories surfaced before my eyes," he said.
Dave's dog Duke (Photo: Amir Eilat)
Dana Brand was "adopted" by the Lalshouk family when she moved in to the kibbutz 13 years ago. "Dave was a good man who cared a lot, but for small things, private and family things. He didn't like to standout."
Brand said Dave loved animals. "If there was an abandoned animal in the kibbutz they called him to help. The orchards were also his life. As he invested all his free time in that."
Psychologists visited families living in the kibbutz and offered professional assistance.
Ahiya Raved contributed to this report