A burglar shot in Arad: The State Attorney’s Office today (Thursday) filed an indictment in the Be’er Sheva District Court against Aryeh Schiff, alleging that he committed the offense of manslaughter lightly. This, after Schiff shot a man who tried to break into his car, after he allegedly felt life-threatening.
The indictment was filed after the prosecution informed Schiff’s attorney that District Attorney Alon Altman, in the opinion of Deputy State Attorney Shlomo (Momi) Lemberger, had decided to dismiss all of his claims at the hearing, including the self-defense claim. Notice of the decision was also given to the next of kin of the deceased’s family.
According to the facts of the indictment, which was filed through attorneys Yariv Tzri and Zion Keinan, at midnight between 28.11.2020 and 29.11.2020, three people arrived in their vehicle near the defendant’s home in Arad in order to break in and steal his vehicle. Among the burglars was also the late Muhammad al-Trash, who was masked. The deceased broke the driver’s window of the vehicle with a pipe wrench and burst into the vehicle to steal it. Another burglar joined and stood next to the deceased outside the vehicle.
The indictment states that Schiff, a former volunteer with the Israel Police for many years, was holding a 9mm semi-automatic Taurus license. On the night of the incident, near midnight, he was with his wife in a trailer parked behind the vehicle, but was cut off. Seconds after the burglars arrived at the scene, due to the noise made by the burglars, the defendant’s wife woke the defendant from his sleep, the defendant peeked out of the trailer window, heard the car burglary noises and saw the burglars’ vehicle standing next to the vehicle. In his bed, he got out of the trailer, walked on the sidewalk about 7 feet, and approached the vehicle while shouting “Stop” several times. He also arrived near the front passenger door, looked into the vehicle, when the vehicle ceiling light was on, and saw that inside the vehicle The deceased was sitting in the driver’s seat, and another burglar was standing between the vehicle and the burglars’ vehicle.
The shooting scene in Arad (Photo: Police spokeswoman)The document states that Schiff took two steps back, about three meters from the deceased, swung his weapon while stepping and inserting a bullet into the swallow house and opened the pistol. At the same time, the deceased closed the driver’s door and the vehicle began to roll forward on the road without being driven. At this point the defendant took a step forward, raised his right hand which held a weapon and fired one bullet at the vehicle to the area where the deceased was sitting. The bullet penetrated through the upper part of the windshield to the right front door of the vehicle, hitting the right side of the deceased’s forehead, and remained inside his head.
The second burglar then got into the burglar vehicle that started the ride, while the defendant got off the road from the sidewalk, aimed his gun at the fleeing burglar vehicle and fired another bullet at him.
Defendant called the police emergency center, reported the incident and sought police and medical assistance, as he estimated that he had injured the deceased. The defendant waited at the scene until the aid agencies arrived and cooperated with the rescue services and the police.
The indictment states that Schiff “lightly caused the death of the deceased by firing at the vehicle to the area where the deceased was sitting while taking an unreasonable risk of the possibility of causing the result while hoping to prevent it.”