Case closed against cop who shot scissor-wielding Palestinian teen attackers

Justice Ministry investigators announced Monday they would close a criminal investigation into an officer who shot two Palestinian teenagers in 2015 as they carried out a terror attack in Jerusalem.

No evidence was found of criminal conduct by the unnamed police officer, though several instances of misconduct warranted internal disciplinary steps, investigators in the Justice Ministry’s Police Investigation Unit — the external body that scrutinizes police misconduct — said in a statement.

The off-duty police officer fatally shot one of the two Palestinian teenage girls attempting to carry out a stabbing attack with scissors in downtown Jerusalem in November 2015.

Fourteen-year-old Hadil Awad was shot dead during the incident, and her cousin Nurhan Awad, now 17, was shot, disarmed and arrested.

Two people were lightly injured in the attack: a 70-year-old Palestinian resident of Bethlehem — mistaken by the girls for a Jew — who sustained stab wounds to his upper body, and a 27-year-old guard, who was lightly hurt by shrapnel from gunfire directed against the teenage attackers.

The two Palestinian girls were caught on camera on Jaffa Road, near the Mahane Yehuda open-air market, as they lashed out with scissors at people passing by.

The off-duty officer who was in the area rushed to the scene immediately and disarmed both girls in less than a minute. He fired one bullet at Nurhan, wounding her, and then shot and killed Hadil.

Seeing Nurhan still moving out of the corner of his eye, the cop fired again, apparently to ascertain that she was no longer able to harm anyone.

In her interrogation, Nurhan expressed remorse for what she had done, and said she had been dragged along by her younger cousin.

In November 2916, Nurhan was convicted of one charge of attempted murder instead of two, as part of a plea bargain, along with illegal possession of a knife. She was also given an 18-month suspended sentence, valid for three years after her release from prison.

Nurhan later lodged a formal complaint with police against the officer who shot her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oN6HRV6T_2U

Police officials at the time defended the officer’s decision to shoot the girls, saying that given the speed with which the incident unfolded and an element of surprise that rendered judgment difficult, the officer had acted “according to regulations.”

It emerged after the incident that Hadil’s 24-year-old brother, Mahmoud Awad, was killed by an IDF soldier at a Qalandiya checkpoint protest in 2013.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.