Two killed in Tel Aviv shooting, manhunt for suspect ongoing
Shots fired into crowded pub on Dizengoff street, killing two and wounding six. The shooter, who fled the scene, has been identifed as an Arab-Israeli, whom police are still searching for.
Two people were shot dead and six others wounded in a shooting at a crowded pub on 130 Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv on Friday afternoon in a suspected terror attack.
The suspect was identified as a 29-year-old Arab-Israeli from Arara in the north of the country. He was identified after his father called the police.
The suspected shooter fled the scene after the attack. In a statement delivered Friday evening, the police said that the search was ongoing and that special forces and members of the Shin Bet were operating across Tel Aviv, with police going from house to house to search for the suspect. Nonetheless, Tel Aviv residents were told to continue as normal, although many chose to remain indoors.
The two men killed in the attack were named as Alon Bakal, 26, who was the manager of the Simta bar at which the attack took place, and Shimon Ruimi, 30, from Ofakim.
Two of the wounded were hospitalized in serious condition. Two more were moderately wounded, one lightly-to-moderately wounded and another lightly wounded.
Lawyer Sami Milham, a member of the suspect's family and who has represented him told Ynet: "He isn't stable and suffers from serious problems.
"The first time round he got five years in jail after his mental state was taken into consideration. I represented him at the time, and recently his situation has worsened. He didn't have a regular job, and he was disturbed all the time.
"I'm amazed and surprised because his family members are good people and his father is a volunteer. We don't hate Jews and we don't hate Israelis."
A CCTV clip aired by Channel 10 on Friday evening showed the suspected shooter in a store next to the scene of the attack before going out and opening fire at the crowded bar next door. A second CCTV clip from inside the bar shows the moment the shooter started firing.
Newly sworn-in Israeli Police Chief Roni Alsheikh went to the scene, as did Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai said that while it is still not certain whether the background to the attack was national or criminal, it appeared to be nationalistically-motivated.
Some of the injured were hit by glass shards broken by the bullets, and some were wounded from the chaos that broke out, said Yehuda Hildeshaim, a volunteer with United Hatzalah.
"When I got to the scene I found one person who was critically wounded and unconscious after being shot. Several of us from the Hatzalah unit gave him first aid and he was evacuated to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
"Following that we continued to treat other wounded at the scene."
One witness told an investigator that the attacker fired around 10 shots. "It sounded like a Kalashnikov. He had a grey coat and he was alone. He was a big man with a stocking over his head. He shot from north to south and then continued on."
Avi, who lives close to the scene of the attack, said: "I heard something like 10 shots. I was next to one of the cafes. I saw people running in the street and wounded sprawled on the street."
In a separate incident, a taxi driver was found murdered on Weizman Street in north Tel Aviv. Police are still checking whether there is any connection between the two events, and details of the investigation are under gag order.
The victim, a resident of the HaShfela area near Jerusalem, was found about an hour after the shooting attack occurred, in a sandy area close to the Mandarin Hotel.
Eli Senyor, Noam (Dabul) Dvir, Shahar Hai, Itay Blumenthal, Reut Rimerman, Yoav Zitun and Rotem Elizera contributed to this report.
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