An Israeli police officer who killed an autistic Palestinian man in Jerusalem’s Old City after mistaking him for a terrorist in a fatal shooting that rocked the country in late May will be charged with second-degree murder, the Police Internal Investigations Department announced on Wednesday.
The shooter will be given a pre-trial hearing prior to his indictment of reckless homicide, the PIID said.
Iyad Halak, 32, was walking to a school for students with special needs where he worked when two police officers said they spotted him with a “suspicious object” that looked like a pistol. When he failed to obey orders to stop, the officers opened fire.
According to Wednesday’s PIID statement, the two officers had been alerted that a terrorist was in the area.
The two ordered Halak to identify himself but he didn’t comply, and apparently terrified, he ran away. They chased him until he was cornered in a garbage room where one of the officers shot him.
The garbage room was in the Lion’s Gate area of the Old City, which has been the site of many terrorist attacks by east Jerusalem Palestinians.
According to Israeli media, leaked information from the police showed that the second police officer, who was a commander, tried to shoot Halak in the knees as he was giving chase, but missed. When they cornered Halak in the garbage room, he ordered the first not to open fire but was ignored.
The shooter denies this version of events, saying he never received an order not to open fire.
Israeli protesters raise a portrait of Iyad Halak, a 32-year-old autistic Palestinian man shot dead by Israeli police a few months ago (AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Some eyewitnesses claimed that they had shouted to police that Halak had special needs.
The tragedy, which occurred days after the George Floyd shooting in the U.S., generated an outcry in Israel and sparked demonstrations.
“The deceased did not pose any danger to the police and civilians who were at the scene, the police officer did not fire in accordance with well-known police procedures, and nor did he utilize more proportionate alternative,” a spokesperson for PIID said.
The shooting officer’s commander will not be charged.
“After examining all the circumstances of the incident, it was decided to close his case, since no criminal offense was apparent in his conduct,” a PIID spokesperson said.
“He acted exactly as expected of him in this explosive device called the Middle East: He chased after someone he believed was a terrorist, who in the end was shot,” Oron Schwartz, who represented the police commander, said in a phone call with The Times of Israel. “It’s a tragedy, of course, and our hearts are with the family.”
He added that he expected the family to appeal the decision and that “at the end of the day, we’ll wind up in the Israeli High Court.”
Justice Minister Avi Nissenkorn praised what he called “the professional handling of the issue” by the PIID.
“The killing of Iyad Halak is an awful tragedy. There is nothing that can alleviate the family’s pain,” Nissenkorn said. “While we must tend to and back up the security forces that protect us with their bodies, we must also take care that we do not deviate from the basic standards of moral decency.”