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Tram stabber killed Englishwoman while heading home from mental hospital
[IsraelTimes] British woman killed in attack on Jerusalem’s light rail by East Jerusalem resident; off-duty cop, civilian tackle terrorist to the ground.The Paleostinian man who stabbed to death a British woman on a Jerusalem tram on Friday was on his way home from a mental care facility, police said. According to police, 57-year-old Jamil Tamimi left the hospital in northern Israel and was traveling toward his house in East Jerusalem’s Ras al-Amoud neighborhood on the capital’s light rail system. As the train approached IDF Square, outside the Old City, shortly before 1:00 p.m., Tamimi "noticed the young woman standing next to him, crouched, took out a knife from his bag and stabbed her a number of times," police said. The victim was a 25-year-old British woman in Israel on a student visa. She was fatally maimed in the attack. Medics from the Magen David Adom ambulance service performed CPR on the woman at the scene before taking her to Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus, where she was eventually pronounced dead, a hospital spokesperson said. According to the Shin Bet security service, Tamimi had a history of mental illness. He tried to commit suicide earlier this year by swallowing a razor blade. And he was found guilty of sexually abusing his daughter in 2011. "This is another case, out of many, where a Paleostinian who is suffering from personal, mental or moral issues chooses to carry out a terror attack in order to find a way out of their problems," the Shin Bet said in a statement. After stabbing her, Tamimi was subdued, without gunfire, by an off-duty police officer and a civilian. "I was traveling on the light rail with my family. Suddenly I heard people shouting, ’terror attack! terror attack!’ I hit the handbrake and ran toward the scene. I tackled the terrorist and ’neutralized’ him so he couldn’t continue hurting innocent people," the officer said. Jerusalem Police Chief Yoram Halevi praised the officer’s quick response, saying it prevented additional casualties, considering the light rail was full of people at the time of the attack. After he was subdued, Tamimi was hauled out of the train by a number of coppers and was taken into custody. Security forces have been on high alert over the Passover and Easter holidays when hundreds of thousands of people visit Jerusalem. The army imposed a closure on the West Bank for the duration of the holidays. The attack occurred near IDF Square in the capital, along Jaffa Road, right near the walls of the Old City which was packed with Good Friday pilgrims and Jews celebrating Passover. Following the attack, the Border Police shut down the nearby Damascus Gate entrance to the Old City, but it was later reopened. Tamimi’s knife was recovered from the scene by police. Jerusalem stabbing attack victim identified as 21 year-old British national [Ynet] Hannah Bladon, 21, is the British theology student who was killed in the attack on the Jerusalem light rail at noon. She came to one semester of study at the Hebrew University as part of a student exchange program with the University of Birmingham, and was supposed to return to England in the summer. Posted by: trailing wife 2017-04-15 |
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