Policeman questioned over shooting of teenage stabber

A police officer has been questioned by the Police Investigations Unit over his shooting of a 16-year-old Palestinian teenager who carried out a stabbing attack with a pair of scissors in Jerusalem, along with her 14-year-old cousin three weeks ago, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.

The investigation was opened following a decision by Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, on the advice of the state prosecutor, amid claims that the officer continued to shoot the teen after she no longer posed any danger.

The officer, from the Jerusalem bomb disposal unit and whose identity is protected by a gag order, maintains he fired at the teenager as he believed that she was still capable of further attacking civilians.

During questioning last week, the officer noted that he was alone at the scene and shot at the stabbers with the aim of neutralizing them — but not killing them — the Hebrew-language Walla news reported. He also told investigators he was concerned the attacker might be wearing an explosive vest that she may have been able to detonate.

He was released without conditions and his gun was not taken away, the report said.

According to the Hebrew-language NRG website, it is the first time in the recent wave of terror attacks that a police officer has been investigated for shooting at a suspect during an attack.

The Jerusalem Police said they reject the accusations of wrongdoing on the part of the officer.

The Police Investigations Unit said it reviews all terror incidents in which a police officer opens fire.

“If there is evidence to indicate excessive force of shooting after the terrorist has been neutralized, the matter is transferred to the attorney general,” the PIU said according to the report. “In this case, he ordered the opening of an investigation.”

During the November 23 attack, the 16-year-old girl was caught on camera on Jaffa Road — in the area near the Mahane Yehuda open-air vegetable market — with her 14-year-old cousin as they lashed out at people with scissors.

The two managed to lightly wound an elderly Palestinian man from Bethlehem — whom they mistook for a Jew — before they were shot by the policeman. A 27-year-old passerby was also wounded when he was hit by an errant bullet.

The sapper had been in the area and quickly responded, disarming both girls in less than a minute. He fired one bullet at the 16-year-old, wounding her, and then shot and killed the 14-year-old.

Seeing the older girl 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.

But in her interrogation, the girl told a different version of the incident, painting herself as a victim. Channel 10 reported at the end of November that the girl had filed a complaint against the policeman with the PIU, which said it will examine the case.

Police officials defended the sapper’s decision to shoot the girl more than once, saying that, given the speed with which the incident unfolded and an element of surprise that rendered judgment difficult, the sapper had acted “according to regulations.”

The sapper “was not sure the terrorist was sufficiently wounded” to be unable to harm anyone, police said, citing other instances in which terrorists continued to attack even when hurt. On October 13, a terrorist slammed his car into a bus stop in Jerusalem, but, despite being dazed by the collision that totaled his vehicle, he got up and tried to stab passersby before he was shot by a security guard.

There has been a series of almost-daily stabbing, shooting, and car-ramming attacks by Palestinians against civilians and the Israel Defense Forces inside Israel and the West Bank since the beginning of September. On Sunday, a Palestinian was shot and wounded while trying to stab an Israeli civilian near the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba.