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| FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, file photo, an Israeli woman holds her dog next to a bus station shattered by bullets at the scene of a deadly shooting attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel. For all its years of strife, Israel has rarely seen anything quite like this: an armed, wanted Arab killer on the loose who is spreading fear across the land. Even the proudly stoic are keeping children home from school as they brace for another potential attack after the weekend's deadly daytime shooting at a Tel Aviv bar in what has become the most baffling event in a three-month wave of violence. |
TEL AVIV,
Israel (AP) -- For all its years of strife, Israel has rarely
seen anything quite like this: an armed, wanted Arab killer on the
loose, spreading fear across the land.
Even
the most stoic are keeping their children home from school following the
deadly daytime shooting at a popular bar on a busy Tel Aviv street that
has become among the most unsettling attacks in a three-month wave of
violence.
Israelis are used to quickly
resuming their daily routines following attacks because assailants are
typically captured or killed. But the frantic search for this gunman,
whose attack on Friday afternoon was caught on security cameras, has
sent jitters across this seaside city.
The
unusual escape of the accused gunman, Nashat Milhem, an Arab from
northern Israel who is considered to be armed and dangerous, is one of
many elements of a case that has left Israelis on edge.
"Everything
about this is characterized by uncertainty," said Yossi Melman, a
prominent security analyst, adding that the level of planning and
sophistication were closer in style to those of Islamic State attackers
in Brussels, Paris and California.
"I'm not familiar with an event like this, with an unclear nature that has lasted this long," he said.
The
shooting on Tel Aviv's busy Dizengoff Street, which killed two Israeli
men and wounded six other people, was recorded on security cameras at a
health food store next door.
In the footage, a
man with short dark hair, glasses and a black bag over his shoulder is
seen scooping up nuts from the shop's bulk food section, putting them in
a plastic bag, then emptying them back. He then walks to the store
entrance, places his backpack on a shopping cart and takes a gun out of
it before stepping outside and opening fire into the bar. He then runs
away.
Police say that after tossing his
cellphone, Milhem hailed a cab that took him to northern Tel Aviv, where
he killed the driver and escaped in the taxi before abandoning it and
going off the grid.
Authorities got their
first lead when Milhem's father, Mohammed, recognized his son from the
closed circuit footage aired on TV. Milhem apparently obtained the
licensed semi-automatic weapon he used by stealing it from his father, a
security guard. The father condemned the killing and called on his son
to turn himself in. Residents of their Arab town, Arara, also quickly
denounced the attack.
The brazen shooting
comes amid more than three months of almost daily Palestinian attacks
against Israeli civilians and soldiers. On the Israeli side, 21 people
have died, mostly in stabbings and car-ramming attacks.
At least 130
Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, 90 of them identified by
Israel as assailants.
Israel has accused
Palestinian leaders and social media sites of inciting the violence.
Palestinians say the attacks are the result of frustration over five
decades of Israeli military occupation.
Whereas
most attackers have been Palestinians from the West Bank or east
Jerusalem, Milhem is one of just a handful of Arab citizens of Israel
accused of such violence. And, he comes from a family that was well
integrated into Israeli society.
Police say
they found a Quran in his bag, hinting at Islamic inspiration, though
family members say he was emotionally unstable and traumatized after a
cousin was shot dead in a 2006 police arrest raid. At the time, police
said they were searching for weapons and claimed the shooting was in
self-defense.
Milhem served time in an Israeli
prison after being convicted of attacking a soldier and trying to steal
his weapon. But he was also described by residents of the upscale Tel
Aviv neighborhood where he worked as a grocery store delivery man as
being so trusted that customers gave him their house keys to make
deliveries when they were out.
"I knew him
like the back of my hand. He ate and drank and worked with us," a local
Israeli vegetable salesman who was not identified told Channel 10 TV.
"He was a normal guy. ... People really liked him. And I liked him too."
The
suspect's picture is plastered across newspapers and television
screens, and police say they are on "heightened alert," with stepped-up
security in Tel Aviv, as they conduct their investigation.
With
the search stretching into its fourth day, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai
implored residents to return to their routines. But the city remained
subdued Monday, and attendance at many schools was sparse.
Oren
Helman, a resident of Tel Aviv's upscale Ramat Aviv neighborhood, where
the search has focused, said he sent his two young daughters to school,
but there were few other parents dropping children off. The few who
came to school were not allowed to play outside in the playground.
"The parents who send their kids to school are worried. Those who don't are scared," he said.
Helman
said the heightened security in the neighborhood helped put him at
ease, and he didn't want to cave in to violence or cause panic with his
children. But he said there were heated discussions among parents on
social media over whether their children were safe. Repeated rumors that
the gunman has been seen also added to the unease, he said.
Assaf
Zamir, a deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, said some neighborhoods reported
only 50 percent school attendance but he expected the numbers to rise.
"From
our experience as days go by, the numbers will fill up and everyone
will come back to school," he said. "We have always bounced back."
