12-year-old boy suspected of murdering homeless man

Investigation indicates preteen beat Andrei Tiomkin on the head with a sharp object in an abandoned building in Holon, causing his death

By ToI Staff 4 April 2021, 11:02 pm 2 Edit

People walk by a homeless man sleeping on the street, near cafes in the center of Jerusalem. November 10, 2013. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90/File)

A 12-year-old boy is suspected of murdering a homeless man in the central Israel city of Holon, according to Hebrew media reports on Sunday.

Andrei Tiomkin was found dead in March after suffering a serious head injury. His body was uncovered in an abandoned building in Holon.

The police originally did not suspect Tiomkin’s death to be a homicide. However, an autopsy “painted a different picture,” reported Channel 12.

A subsequent police investigation indicated that a 12-year-old boy who arrived at the scene with his friends beat the man on the head with a sharp object, according to the network.

A homeless person sleeps in the street on Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem on September 23, 2020, during a nationwide lockdown. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

The murder seemed to result from “boredom” or constitute some kind of prank. However, the boy’s exact motivation remained unclear.

The investigation found that regardless of motive, there was no initial provocation from Tiomkin.

At this stage, the extent of involvement in the murder by the boy’s friends is currently unknown.

The case is currently being discussed by the police and prosecution, who believe that an indictment will be filed soon. According to Channel 12, prosecutors will have to take the boy’s young age into account.

The child is not in police custody, according to the Kan public broadcaster.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has previously defined 25,000 people as homeless and alleged that social services are only helping around 10 percent of the total number of homeless people in the country.