A lawyer in his 50s was shot dead Tuesday afternoon inside his office in Rishon Lezion, in what police suspect was an attack by a client dissatisfied with the handling of his case.
Following a large-scale manhunt, the suspect, a Ramla resident in his 30s, surrendered to the Lachish police’s central investigative unit in southern Israel. Police said he confessed to carrying out the shooting.
The lawyer was found with gunshot wounds by his business partner, who alerted police. The suspect was identified on security cameras at the entrance to the office building and was also filmed fleeing the scene while carrying a handgun.
Central District Police Commander Amir Cohen said the weapon believed to have been used in the killing had not yet been recovered.
“The suspect was apprehended with the help of a very broad deployment of forces, together with the Southern District and the Lachish central investigative unit,” Cohen said. “The police commissioner was updated and allocated all the forces we needed.”
“The suspect arrived at the Lachish unit and admitted that he committed the act,” he added. “Until we locate the gun he used and all the other identifying evidence, we are not stopping our activity. We want to complete the entire evidentiary picture so that he can ultimately be brought to court with all the evidence.”
A worker in the building told ynet that he had been working in the lobby when police ordered everyone to evacuate.
“Now we understand that someone was murdered on the third floor,” he said.
Large police forces arrived at the scene as officers searched for the suspected shooter. Investigators from the Rishon Lezion police station began collecting security-camera footage and taking witness statements.
Police are also examining whether the lawyer had previously received threats.
According to investigators, the lawyer’s partner was sitting inside the office when he heard shouting between the victim and the suspect, followed several minutes later by four gunshots.
Gili Elhadad of the Rishon Lezion police station said it was not yet clear whether the gun was legally owned.
“The suspect fled the scene with the weapon he used,” Elhadad said. “He is known to police for property offenses and is a resident of central Israel. We understand that the dispute concerned the handling of a damages claim connected to a traffic accident.”
“The building’s maintenance worker rode in the elevator with the suspect,” he added. “At the time of the incident, the partner was sitting in the office. He heard shouting between the victim, the lawyer, and the suspect. A few minutes later, he heard four gunshots. It appears the motive was dissatisfaction with the handling of his case.”
(Photo: Meir Turgeman)
The shooting on Moshe Levy Street was reported at 1:05 p.m. Magen David Adom paramedics attempted to resuscitate the victim but were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene.
Police said the killing appeared to have a criminal motive.
MDA medics Naftali Halberstadt and Meir Binenfeld said they found the victim unconscious, without a pulse and not breathing.
“We received a report of a man injured in a violent incident,” they said. “We arrived at the scene and joined the police forces. We saw a man around 50 years old lying unconscious, with no pulse and no breathing, suffering from a penetrating injury. We conducted medical examinations, but unfortunately we had to pronounce him dead at the scene.”
Attorney Tami Ullman, acting head of the Israel Bar Association, expressed shock over the killing and accused authorities of failing to protect lawyers facing threats because of their work.
“Sadly, the disaster that occurred today joins a long list of dedicated and professional lawyers who paid with their lives because of the violence raging in the streets,” she said.
“Many lawyers are attacked and threatened on a daily basis because of their profession, and the police do not provide an adequate response. Our blood has been abandoned, and this is the tragic result.”