Probe closed into police shooting of Palestinian mistakenly believed to be terrorist

The Justice Ministry has closed an investigation into police conduct during the shooting death of Nur Shuqeir, an East Jerusalem Palestinian killed in late November by cops who mistakenly believed him to be committing a terror attack.

Shuqeir, who was driving without a license, apparently attempted to flee police in his car at a checkpoint outside of East Jerusalem. One officer was lightly wounded, leading to an initial determination that he had committed a ramming attack, which was later reversed.

The Justice Ministry’s Police Internal Investigations Department says that investigators reviewed security footage and spoke to those involved in the incident before reaching their conclusion.

“Given the real and immediate danger to the police and soldiers at the checkpoint, the shooting was carried out according to the regulations,” the PIID says.

According to a video of the incident provided by the B’Tselem rights group, however, Shuqeir’s shooting did not happen close to the checkpoint, and instead took place a few hundred meters down the road sometime after the suspected ramming. In the video, Shuqeir appears to have pulled his car over to the side of the road as several police officers race toward him.

An officer can clearly be heard calling out “Don’t shoot!” before a Border Police officer fires four bullets toward Shuqeir’s car.