BICOM

A forty-year-old local resident opened fire in a branch of Bank Hapoalim in the southern Israeli town of Beer Sheva yesterday, killing two members of staff and two of the bank’s customers before turning the gun on himself.

The incident began at around noon at the branch on Jabotinsky Street after Itamar Alon had been unable to withdraw cash earlier in the day, having been denied an extension on his credit limit. Alon, a former Border Police officer and security guard, went home to collect his pistol and returned to the bank opening fire. Initial reports assumed that the incident was an armed bank robbery, although personal revenge rather than money appears to have been Alon’s motive.

Alon killed branch manager Avner Cohen (44), bank worker Meir Zeitoun (40) and customers Anat Even Haim (34) and Idan Shnitzer Savri (22). He then took another bank worker, Miri Cohen hostage, leading to an hour-long stand-off with armed police, which only ended when Alon took his own life, freeing Cohen. According to the Walla website, Alon had fallen into financial difficulties and was struggling to meet mortgage payments. During his time as a security guard, he had been given an award by the Mayor of Beer Sheva for opening fire and preventing a terror attack in the city.

The incident has shocked the country, where gun crime and shootings are rare. All daily newspapers this morning devote large sections to the shooting, including the first fifteen pages of Yediot Ahronot. Speaking to Israel Radio, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “I can’t remember events like this – at least not in recent years. We can’t let a terror attack like this happen again.”