Two found shot to death in Tira in suspected double murder

Man pronounced dead at scene; female passenger dies after being taken to hospital, in 4th and 5th killings in central Israel Arab town since start of year

By ToI Staff 31 August 2018, 12:56 am

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The scene of a shooting in Tira, August 30, 2018. (screen capture: Ynet)

Police are investigating a suspected double murder in the central Israeli town of Tira after a man and a woman were shot to death in a car near the entrance to the Arab-majority town Thursday night.

The man and woman, both in their 20s, were found by paramedics in a car that had crashed onto a sidewalk.

Paramedics declared the man dead at the scene and found the women, who had been in the passenger seat, in critical condition. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she later died.

The two were romantically linked, according to reports in Hebrew media. Their names were not released.

Hundreds attend the funeral of 19-year old Lian Zaher Nasser in her hometown of Tira, on January 3, 2017. Nasser was one of 39 people killed in a terror attack at an Istanbul nightclub shooting on New Years Eve,( Hadas Parush/FLASH90)

“We were in the Magen David Adom rescue station when we heard gunshots and ran from the station to find the car on the sidewalk,” a first responder said.

Residents of Arab communities like Tira, where crime is often higher than in Jewish-majority cities, have long complained of a lack of neighborhood policing.

The killings are the fourth and fifth in the city since the start of the year. None have yet been solved, according the the Haaretz daily.

Tira, home to some 26,000 people, is in the so-called southern triangle of Arab towns northeast of Tel Aviv.