Man murdered in Tira; residents say he was a collaborator

Shot to death in middle of town in broad daylight: Ahmad Ziad Samara, 35, was killed Monday morning after he was shot by masked gunmen who burst into his office at a driving school he owned in the Israeli-Arab town of Tira close to the Green Line. Police are investigating.

Samara was seated at his desk at his office when, primary reports indicate, a vehicle stopped in front of the building and two masked gunmen got out of the vehicle. They proceeded into Samara's office where they sprayed him with gunfire and fled the scene.

"We heard dozens of shots," a resident said.

Samara collapsed on the ground and began hemorrhaging from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, neck and stomach. Local residents rushed to his side to aid him until a paramedic team arrived to the scene.

Abed Kashkush, a Magen David Adom paramedic, said "we found the man laying on the floor with a lot of blood around him. We saw that he was injured from the shooting. After checking, we realized that he was unconscious, without a pulse and he was not breathing. We began trying advanced resuscitation measures and evacuated him to Meir hospital in Kfar Saba in critical condition."

At the hospital, Samara was brought to the trauma unit. In spite of doctors' attempt to revive him, they were forced to pronounce him dead.

Large numbers of police, under the command of Deputy Commander for the Sharon region, Morice Horish, arrived to the scene of the murder. They began investigating and combing the area for clues as the attackers' identities. A helicopter was called to aid in the investigation.

Tira residents said that Samara had lived in Palestinian city of Qalqiliya in the West Bank until he married a Tira inhabitant whose father was a driving instructor and the owner of the school where he was killed.

"The victim was known as a collaborator," a resident said. "In Tira, we don't like collaborators, and that's why no one is sad that he was killed."