An unidentified gunman opened fire near a central Tel Aviv pub Friday killing two people and wounding seven others, prompting police to launch a manhunt in search of the suspect, Israeli police say.
The incident, which was caught on camera, occurred at around 2:40 p.m., hours before the beginning Shabbat, Judaism's day of rest, reported CNN. Footage shows the suspect standing in front of a grocery store moments before the shooting. He places his backpack on a shopping cart and pulls out an automatic weapon before opening fire.
Another video shows a group of patrons inside a bar who then flee after noticing the man firing wildly.
Police quickly responded to the shooting, but didn't manage to find the suspect at the scene. They launched a manhunt spanning a 2-mile area of the city with roadblocks setup, but still were unable to locate him.
"Police units searching Tel Aviv area for suspect who carried out shooting. All injured taken to Tel Aviv hospitals," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld wrote on Twitter.
Police units examining CCTV footage of shooting in tel aviv. Building and apartments still being searched. All injured taken to hospital.
— Micky Rosenfeld (@MickyRosenfeld) January 1, 2016
Local media indicates that the suspect is an Israeli Arab in his late twenties who had recently gotten out of jail after he was caught trying to a soldier's weapon. However police didn't confirm this, saying they were still trying to determine if the incident was a criminal or terrorist attack.
While the motive for the shooting isn't clear, it does come at a time when tensions between Israel and Palestine have been running high, reported the BBC. Over the past three months, 25 Israelis have been killed, mostly in stabbings, shootings and car-ramming attacks, while 138 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, most of whom were identified by Israel as "assailants."
In an attempt to ease these tensions, Israel handed over the bodies of 23 Palestinians killed in such attacks to their families earlier on Friday.
