Israeli security forces overnight Wednesday arrested the terrorist who carried out Tuesday’s shooting attack in Jerusalem, in which two Breslov Hasidim were injured in the Shimon Hatzadik neighborhood (Two Jews Shot in Shimon Hatzadik Terror Attack). A joint operation of special police and IDF forces and Border Guard officers, with Shin Bet intelligence, arrested the suspect in Shechem. The terrorist, a 15-year-old from the Askar refugee camp in Shechem, admitted his role in the attack during his initial interrogation and was transferred to the Shin Bet for further questioning.
כוחות משטרה סורקים באיזור פיגוע הירי בשמעון הצדיק pic.twitter.com/dn3rhOMG6x
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The two Hassidim, ages 48 and 50, were shot in their car on Pierre Van Paassen Street, having just come out of the Shimon HaTzadik gravesite. The terrorist opened fire from a short distance and fled. He dropped his weapon, a homemade Carlo sub-machine gun, some 150 yards from the incident.
Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Wednesday morning praised the fighters who got their man so soon after the event: “The rapid activity at the scene with cooperation among the different forces that have been proven time and time again to be a winner––the Israel Police, Border Guard, Shin Bet, and the IDF––led to the quick arrest of the terrorist who carried out yesterday’s shooting attack in the Shimon HaTzadik neighborhood in Jerusalem.”
“From the first moment that police forces from the Jerusalem District and the Border Guard were jumped to the scene of the attack, we used many forces and together with accurate intelligence managed to get our hands on the terrorist. Let every terrorist know that the long hand of the security system will reach him wherever he escapes to and wherever he hides,” the commissioner added.
The commissioner noted that so far, security forces have foiled eight terror attacks since the start of the holy month of Ramadan.
What remains unclear is how an armed terrorist entered Jerusalem so easily, but more importantly, how he escaped after his attack, which he committed within just a few hundred meters of the police national headquarters, and then make it all the way back to Shechem while a manhunt for him was underway.
