Attacker shot dead by police on site; victim moderately wounded; police end search for possible second suspect
A Palestinian man stabbed an Israeli woman outside Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station Wednesday evening.
The attacker was shot dead by security forces at the scene.
The attack was the second of the day, after a Palestinian man attempted to stab police officers before being shot dead. Palestinian media identified him as Ahmed Fathi Abu Sha’aban, 26, of Ras al-Amoud, East Jerusalem. He was reportedly recently released from Israeli prison after serving three years on terror charges.
Police said the attacker stabbed a woman, 70, on Jaffa Street and then attempted to board a city bus outside the station, which is in a busy commercial area.
The victim suffered moderate injuries to her upper body and received medical treatment on site, paramedics said. She was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for treatment.
“There was a woman in her 60s sitting next to the driver, bleeding but fully conscious, with stab wounds to her upper body. We gave her medical treatment and sent her to the hospital. She is in moderate to serious condition,” Dr. Yoni Elstein, who was on the bus where the attack occurred, told the Times of Israel.
A few other people were treated for shock, Magen David Adom’s CEO told Channel 2.
Sarah Blum, a French-Israeli, told the Times of Israel that she was walking down Jaffa Street after exiting the bus station when “the guy came at me when I was on the phone with my mom.”
She said she saw him, just yards away, “with his hand pulling a knife from his side,” leaped off the sidewalk and yelled for help. He turned and fled, chased down the street by passersby.
Israeli police were searching for a possible second suspect in the attack, but later ruled out the possibility of a second attacker.
The attack was the latest in a spate of terror attacks that have rocked Jerusalem over the past weeks amid spiraling tensions.
As reported by The Times of Israel