Israeli police forces are intensifying their manhunt for 29-year-old Nashat Melhem, the suspect behind the Jan. 1 attack on Tel Aviv’s bustling Dizengoff Street that left two dead, and several more injured, two severely.
As Hebrew-language daily Walla points out, police are getting closer to mapping out the suspect’s escape route. Though Melhem is from the northern Israeli town of Arara, he reportedly knows Tel Aviv very well.
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According to several reports, police believe that, after opening fire at Tel Aviv’s Simta pub (leaving 26-year-old bar manager Alon Bakal and 30-year-old Shimon Ruimi dead), Melhem fled the scene on foot before hailing a taxi. Several witnesses reportedly chased the alleged terrorist for blocks until he turned around at shot at their direction.
Melhem reportedly hailed a taxi on Ibn Gabirol Street and made his way for Namir Road, where he saw a police blockade, and instructed his driver to get off the road. After the driver, identified as 42-year-old Bedouin Israeli Amin Shaaban, refused, Melhem shot and killed him outside the Mandarin Hotel before taking over the wheel, police believe.
While initial reports did not fully corroborate this theory, Israeli police now fully believe that the Bedouin Israeli, a father of eleven, was murdered by Melhem.
Eventually, Melhem threw Shaaban’s body out of the taxi before heading north where he, assumably, abandoned the vehicle and continued on foot.
Yesterday, a schoolgirl located his cellphone in a building in a Ramat Aviv neighbourhood, where he is believed to have disposed it after his taxi ride to the north end of the city. According to Ynet, the girl and her father called the police once they realized who the phone belonged to, and that it “is the last point of reference for investigators.”
As Israel’s search for Melhem continues, his father, a former police volunteer who recognized his son in security footage of the Tel Aviv attack, publicly urged his son to give himself up to police, reports Israel’s Channel 2.
“Contact me, I’ll help you,” he said. “Come on, let’s put an end to this saga. The family is going through a difficult period.”
Two of Melhem’s brothers are currently in police custody, and are being interrogated on suspicion of involvement in the crime. According to Melhem’s father, his other two sons had nothing to do with the attack. “I respect the actions of the Shin Bet and the police,” he said. “But not to the extent that they can hurt [my] family members who had no connection to the incident.”
While rumours that Melhem was “mentally unstable” at the time of the shooting have become popular, many have dismissed the notion as simply untrue.
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“He was a sane and smiley guy,” Eli Cohen, a shawarma stand owner, told Israel’s Army Radio on Monday. “We used to joke around together once in a while. What they’re saying about his being mentally ill is completely bizarre.”
Yigal Markis, a dry cleaner owner, described Melhem as “sociable.”
According to Walla, an anonymous police source has described Melhem as armed (he is believed to still be in possession of a sub-machine gun and tons of ammunition) and extremely dangerous.
“There is no doubt that this man wouldn’t think twice before using his weapon to aid in his escape, and the fear is that he will strike again,” the source said.
A report by Israel’s Channel 10 called the suspect a “ticking bomb.”
Meanwhile, the Times of Israel reports that following Friday’s attack, the injured are no longer in any danger. However, one of them has a bullet lodged in his skull, which cannot be removed according to Ichilov Hospital.