A young Palestinian man, from the Negev, who was shot and seriously injured by Israeli Police fire when an armed Israeli man attacked the Hapoalim Bank in Beersheba, on Monday May 20, stated that the Israeli Police shot and cuffed him, after instantly profiling him as the assailant. The Israeli man killed four persons, and then killed himself, after the bank refused to give him a 6000 NIS loan. The Arab man, Omar Al-Waleedy, 22, was shot by four live rounds leading to serious injuries.
Israeli Ynetnews has reported that Al-Waleedy, remained on life support for ten days, and when he told his story, the Police said that “his version was inconsistent with the outcome of the investigation”.
He said that he hid under a table, fearing for his life when he saw the gunman, but when the Police stormed the bank, they shot and wounded him.
In his testimony, Al-Waleedy said; “I though the Police arrived to save me from the killer who killed four, but they shot me”.
From his hospital bed in Soroka Israeli hospital in Beersheba (Be’er As-Sabe’), Al-Waleedy said; “I arrived at the bank with my Jewish friend, Iran Sabri, in order to open an account for him, all of a sudden, a white-bearded man stormed into the Bank and opened fire in different directions”.
“I laid onto the ground, pretending to be dead; the attacker took a female employee hostage, and went to the toilets, then my friend and I rushed to the main door of the Bank”, he said, “The Police allowed my friend to pass, but they shot me, then they handcuffed me before evacuating the bank building”.
Following the incident, the Police claimed that eyewitness testimonies indicate that the Police “did not open fire at Al-Waleedy during the attack”.
On Thursday at night, May 31, the family of Al-Waleedy forced Police investigators out of his hospital room, and refused to allow them to interrogate him.
They asked the police to allow him to rest, and recover; the Police then arrested four.
One of the relatives said that the Police “was adding insult to injury” by trying to question Al-Waleedy on his hospital bed, “injustice took place the moment they shot him and took him to hospital in handcuffs”, he said.
According to Ynet, the police said that the fact the Al-Waleedy was unconscious made it impossible for the investigators to question him.
The Police also stated that crime scene investigation led to the conclusion that the Police “did not open fire at Al-Waleedy at any time during the attack”, the Ynet said, and added that a source at the Soroka Medical center indicated that “it is possible that Al-Waleedy was shot by the same gun that killed the four victims.”
