Rahat man charged with murder after allegedly killing man in front of his kids

A 26-year-old man from Rahat is charged with aggravated murder after allegedly gunning down a man in front of his mother and children as they drove home.

The defendant, 26-year-old Zahran Bakhiri, allegedly opened fire on 41-year-old Ahmad Abu Jaber as he, his mother and four children returned from grocery shopping in the city on March 2, ahead of their evening iftar meal.

At around noon that day, Bakhiri spotted Abu Jaber on the road when both stopped at an intersection near the latter’s home.

The younger man exited his car and fired his handgun point blank at the victim. Abu Jaber bolted from his vehicle and tried to take cover, but Bakhiri continued to shoot, even as the man’s family was close by.

Abu Jaber was taken to the hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead.

Bakhiri also injured Abu Jaber’s daughter during the assault. She suffered serious facial trauma while trying to shield her younger brothers from the gunfire, prosecutors write.

The defendant was allegedly spurred by a longstanding conflict between his family and that of the deceased.

Before he was killed, Abu Jaber relocated to another neighborhood in the city in an apparent bid to escape the cycle of violence, prosecutors write.

Bakhiri is charged today in the Beersheba District Court with aggravated murder, causing severe injury to a minor, shooting in a residential area in a life-threatening manner, and carrying a gun.