VIDEO: Tel Aviv gunman buys vegetables, then pulls out rifle and starts shooting
Authorities have blocked off Ibn Gabirol and Arlozorov Streets to traffic. Residents who live in these areas are escorted to their homes by police.
By JPOST.COM STAFF, MAARIV ONLINEUpdated: JANUARY 1, 2016 22:45Tel Aviv gunman moments before he starts shooting
Israeli police have sealed off thoroughfares in central Tel Aviv in what appears to be a door-to-door search for the gunman that killed at least two people and wounded seven others just moments earlier.Authorities have blocked off Ibn Gabirol and Arlozorov Streets to traffic. Residents who live in these areas are escorted to their homes by police.In new closed-circuit footage that has emerged in recent hours, the suspect is seen calmly buying vegetables in a store adjacent to the bar that was the primary recipient of a hail of bullets fired from what appears to be a semiautomatic rifle.Video of Tel Aviv shootingThe clip shows the suspect, a bespectacled man dressed in black with a backpack who appears no older than 30, purchasing vegetables in a nutritional supplement shop just near a bar.The gunman is seen calmly putting back the vegetables he picked out, opening his backpack, and then producing a semiautomatic rifle. He then begins to fire indiscriminately.The footage seems to complement an earlier clip shot from inside a nearby bar, where patrons are seen hurriedly scrambling while the gunman can be discerned outside while emptying his magazine.The police high command is convening at this hour in the Tel Aviv municipality building for a situational assessment regarding the hunt for the gunman.The meeting is being run by the new police commissioner, Roni Alsheich, along with other senior officers.Authorities said that at approximately 2:40 p.m., emergency services received a report about a shooting at a cafe on Dizengoff Street near the corner of Gordon Street in central Tel Aviv.Two people who were patronizing the cafe were killed at the scene and several others sustained gunshot wounds.
The suspect then fled the scene. Moments later, a large number of security personnel began combing the area in search of the gunman.Investigators have yet to determine the motive for the shooting.Tweets by @Benhartman