Arab Israeli suspected in Tel Aviv shooting: police source
Xinhua, January 2, 2016 Adjust font size:
The suspected gunman who killed two people and injured six at a Tel Aviv bar on Friday is an Arab Israeli who served in an Israeli prison in the past, a police source told Xinhua.
The suspect, from northern Israel in his mid-20s, opened automatic fire at a bar in central Tel Aviv, killing two people and injuring six, the source said.
The attacker had managed to flee the scene before massive police forces are conducting a manhunt both in the Tel Aviv area and in northern Israel, near the village where the suspect resides.
After footage of the suspect shopping at a nearby shop prior to the attack surfaced in Israeli media, his father called the police saying he recognized his son as the attacker.
The police source told Xinhua the suspect served time in an Israeli prison in the past for snatching a weapon from an Israeli soldier. It is believed that the suspect used a gun he took from his father, who works as security, in order to carry out the attack.
Israeli media reported that he was diagnosed in the past as mentally unstable and that his cousin was shot and killed by Israeli policemen in 2006.
The Israeli police issued a gag order on Friday evening on the details of investigation and has yet to determine the motive for the attack.
The gag order also pertains to a separate incident in which an Arab Israeli man was shot and killed in a northern Tel Aviv apartment on Friday afternoon, suggesting there might be a link between the two incidents.
Pundits on Israeli media outlets suggested that the attack might be influenced by the Islamic State organization, while others believe it may have something to do with the ongoing violence between Israelis and Palestinians, in which 23 Israelis have been killed in lone-wolf attacks and more than 130 Palestinians were killed in clashes with Israeli security forces and while carrying out attacks.
Arab Israelis are Palestinians who stayed in Israel after the 1948 war and became citizens of the country, constituting 20 percent of the population. Endit