Gunman kills 2 at bar in Tel Aviv; manhunt underway

Tel Aviv – Israeli police were hunting door-to-door for an Arab-Israeli gunman that fired into a busy bar in central Tel Aviv on Friday, killing two people and wounding at least six. They were evacuated to the Ichilov hospital in Tel Aviv and Belinson hospital in Petah Tikva, 10 km east of the city. Police published numerous messages urging the public to go on with their routine as usual, however, dismissing rumors that they had ordered residents to stay indoors. At least 131 Palestinians have been killed by either Israeli attackers or security forces. Unconfirmed reports said the shooter was assisted by an unidentified woman.

The police have reasonable grounds to believe that the attacker has little money on him, but the fact that his whereabouts are unknown raises concern among high ranking security officials. Relatives said the suspected gunman is mentally ill. As he leaves the store, he pulls a weapon out of a backpack.

“All possible angles are being investigated”, Luba Samri, a police spokeswoman, said. “He wasn’t married and we always suspected he was unstable”.

Rosenfeld said police were scouring the city, chasing down leads searching for the suspect. Catching her breath as she spoke, she related: “Everyone ran downstairs to the storage room, lots of them, many of them were young girls who started to cry, they were hysterical”.

He said a shooter was “firing in every direction while he was running”.

“I am a part of everyone’s suffering; it doesn’t matter whether you are an Arab or a Jew”, the father concluded, as his voice began to quiver. Suddenly there was a shot to the cafe where we were. “I felt, I saw my boy’s face”. “I fell and I waited around 30 seconds, it was awful”. One of my daughter’s friends works at a nearby bar; another friend was on Dizengoff during the time of the attack. Two of the wounded are thought to be a in serious condition.

“There was a huge crowd when I got to the scene”, Shani Mizrachi, a paramedic told Haaretz.