Witness to drive-by shooting: ‘We saw the wounded, it was scary’

A witness to the drive-by shooting attack recalls the moments of horror. 

By Jack Gold, World Israel News

“We saw the wounded lying, it was scary,” said Raz Chen, who witnessed the Palestinian terrorist attack off Route 60 in which two Israelis were killed, reports Israel Hayom.

Palestinian terrorists on Thursday morning carried out a drive-by shooting attack, hitting four Israelis waiting at a bus stop at the entrance to Givat Assaf in the Binyamin region, just north of Jerusalem, before fleeing.

Large security forces and emergency medical personnel rushed to the scene. While fighting to save the lives of the victims, two succumbed to their wounds.

The other two victims, a man and a woman in their early 20s, were rushed to Jerusalem hospitals in serious condition.

Chen was manning a small kiosk near the bus stop when the shooting began. He recounted that a few soldiers bought coffee from him, they walked over to the bus stop, then suddenly he heard gunfire.

“At first I didn’t realize it was a terrorist attack, and I went out and saw a woman running toward the junction.” After he saw her running away, he got to the scene of the attack and saw a car speed away.

“We saw the wounded lying, it’s scary, the feelings are terrible, I hope it calms down, I am staying here and we will do everything for the benefit of our soldiers … I thought at first that she [the fleeing woman] was the terrorist,” he said, noting that he drew his handgun but luckily thought twice before firing.

M. Klein, another eyewitness, told Israel Hayom that he was in Givat Assaf and heard “massive gunfire.” He ran over together with others and provided initial treatment to the victims.

They saw four wounded. One girl was in front of the hitch-hiking stop and the other young people were lying outside on the floor. They did not see the car. They treated the young woman until an ambulance arrived.

“The shooting lasted a few seconds, a few seconds of massive gunfire,” he recalled.

Givat Assaf (Hebrew for ‘Assaf’s Hill’) was named in memory of Assaf Hershkowitz, who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists at the same spot in 2001.

The attack occurred not far from the scene of an earlier terror shooting on Sunday night in which seven Israelis were wounded in a similar drive-by style attack.

An Israeli baby delivered prematurely as a result of that first attack died Wednesday night. His parents, who were wounded in the attack, are recovering.