From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 9, 2021
‘We acted as expected,’ say border cops cleared in fatal shooting of terrorist
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Two Border Police officers who shot dead a Palestinian assailant on Saturday, after he stabbed a Jewish civilian in a Jerusalem terror attack, issue a statement defending their conduct after prosecutors closed a probe into the incident.
The officers, a man and a woman, were questioned after video of the Saturday incident showed them firing at Muhammad Salima once he was already lying on the ground.
Police video of the entire incident that was later released showed Salima stabbed one civilian and then also tried to attack the officers. The video showed that the officers did not immediately fire the fatal shot at the assailant as he lay on the ground, but did so only after he moved, apparently trying to get up.
State Prosecutor Amit Aisman on Thursday adopted the recommendations of the Justice Ministry’s internal investigations unit, and decided to close the probe into the two officers.
“We acted as expected,” the male officer says in a statement cited by Hebrew media. “We strived for contact as expected of all fighters.”
He says they hadn’t been concerned by their questioning since “we knew that was what’s expected from us.
“I know I’m going to sleep well tonight, knowing I protected human life.”
The Times of Israel Community.