Benny Shlomo, the head of a senior criminal organization, was shot and killed at a gas station on the Shiva road near Azor. Another 40-year-old man was seriously injured by the gunfire.
Magen David Adom (MDA) teams evacuated the two to the Wolfson Medical Center while conducting resuscitation efforts on Shlomo, who was critically wounded, but he died of his wounds. The second, seriously injured person was taken to the hospital in an unstable condition.
"I heard the noise of the shooting, I went out to see what was happening and I saw people dressed in black with a black face covering and they fled in a jeep."
Eyewitness
Police said that an initial report indicates that the shooting was carried out by unknown persons, who got out of vehicles, opened fire at the two and fled the scene. At the same time, at the nearby Holon intersection, a vehicle that was involved in the accident was found with signs of gunshots, and without a driver. According to the investigation, the vehicles have a connection to the first incident.
Eyewitness account of the shooting
"I heard the noise of the shooting, I went out to see what was happening and I saw people dressed in black with a black face covering and they fled in a jeep," said an eyewitness.
Reports of the incident began to come in starting at 2:30 p.m., with large security forces arriving at the scene. An off-duty police officer refueled at the gas station where the assassination took place, called the police 100 hotline and started chasing the shooters on a motorcycle. He shouted at them "police" and fired several bullets at them, so they moved to the other side of the road, apparently stole a car and escaped.
Moshe Zeda, MDA motorcycle medic, said that "when we arrived at the scene, we saw the two wounded lying down suffering from gunshot wounds to their bodies. There was a lot of commotion in the place and we immediately started with examinations and medical treatment. One of the wounded, who was unconscious without a pulse and without breathing, was quickly taken to the hospital in an MDA intensive care vehicle while resuscitation efforts being performed, and the other wounded, who was unconscious, was also taken to the hospital as his condition was serious and unstable."
Shlomo's brother, Shalom, was shot and killed in 2015.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.