The terrorist was identified as 39-year-old Mousabah Abu Sabih from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan and a full Israeli citizen. He was supposed to start a 4-month jail sentence today for incitement on social media, but instead decided to mount a full terrorist attack. In July the terrorist had also been issued a restraining order from entering Temple Mount.
Abu Sabih opened fire from within his vehicle on people standing by the train station on Haim Bar-Lev Street opposite police headquarters.
He then sped away, continuing his rampage as he shot a woman sitting in her car. After he reached the Sheikh Jarrah Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem he shot two men on Shimon Hatzadik street. Police officers on motorcycles from the city’s Special Patrol Unit saw him and began to pursue him. The terrorist stopped his vehicle and began shooting at the police, critically wounding one and lightly wounding another. Israel Border Police finally shot him dead.
Security forces began conducting searches for additional suspects, setting up a number of roadblocks in the area.
Of the victims, a 60 year old woman and a 28-year old police officer succumbed to their wounds, despite doctors at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus trying to resuscitate them.
Three other victims, including a 68-year-old man, were moderately wounded, and were taken to Shaare Zedek hospital for treatment. Another two who were lightly injured and several others who suffered anxiety attacks, were treated by MDA at the scene.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who had been on a tour of the West Bank at the time of the shooting, rushed back to the capital to visit the scene of the attack, as did Erdan and Israel Police Chief Roni Alsheich.
At the start of the weekly cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sent well-wishes to the Israelis injured in the shooting attack and praised the security forces who had acted “very quickly and with determination.”
The attack broke a spell of calm in the capital that followed a months-long wave of violence last autumn and winter that included several attacks near Ammunition Hill.