Shooter in Haifa Murder Arrested, Terror Suspected

The Arab who shot and killed Guy Kafri in Haifa earlier this week turned himself in overnight Thursday, police said. Kafri was one of two people shot in Haifa on Tuesday, and he died of his wounds a short time after he was shot.

Police are also questioning the suspect in the shooting of Harav Yechiel Ilouz, who was shot half an hour before Kafri. Harav Ilouz was moderately wounded in the shooting, and he is recovering in Rambam Hospital in Haifa.

Police have place a news news blackout on details of the two shootings, but said that based on the evidence there was a “likelihood” that the shootings were carried out for nationalistic reasons. Police have found no previous connection between the shooter and the victims. Shin Bet interrogators have joined the investigation, and other suspects are likely to be arrested in the case, sources told Israeli reporters. The suspect is to be brought before a judge in Haifa, Friday, and police intend to ask that the court order him to remain in custody until the end of proceedings against him.

The suspect told police that he turned himself in because he felt that police were “closing in” on him. The weapon used to kill Kafri was found, and ballistics experts are working to match it with the bullets that harmed Harav Ilouz. The two shootings took place about a kilometer away from each other in the Lower City of Haifa,

The levayah for Cafri was held Thursday in Moshav Ofer, outside Haifa, and was attended by hundreds of people. In his hesped for Kafri, Harav Gavriel Sorano, the Rav of Ofer, said “we know more or less what went on in this incident. A Jew was murdered just because he was Jewish. He was a good person, but his ‘fault’ in the eyes of the terrorists was that he was a Jew.”