18-year-old Border Police trainee killed in suspected accidental shooting

Ori Mechtaiev, an 18-year-old Border Police trainee, was killed Sunday when he was shot by a soldier at a home in central Israel, in what authorities are investigating as an accident.

The officer-in-training and several other friends had been playing with their weapons at a home in Azor, south of Tel Aviv, when one of the guns went off, according to Hebrew media reports.

The young man was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics after they failed to resuscitate him.

The IDF Military Police detained two people involved in the incident, including a soldier, and the investigation is being conducted jointly between the police and military. The suspected shooter serves in the Givati Brigade, Haaretz reported.

Mechtaiev, a resident of Azor, enlisted in the Border Police in November.

The slain teenager is survived by his parents and two siblings. He is the son of Ronen Mechtaiev, deputy chief of the Fire and Rescue Service, the agency announced in a statement eulogizing him.

“The Mechtaiev family has been connected for years to the Fire and Rescue Service. His grandfather was appointed as the commander of the Bat Yam [fire] station. And the two brothers of the deputy chief are appointed to senior positions in the service,” the statement read.

The agency “shares in the deep mourning of the dear family, embraces them, and will continue to stand by them always,” it continued.

In a similar incident in October, a Border Police officer was indicted on the charge of reckless homicide after shooting and killing his friend on the doorstep of his home in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.

Emanuel Fabian contributed to this report.