An Israeli citizen reported to the Jerusalem police at about 7:30 a.m. that a suspect was holding a weapon and pointing it at passersby.

A female police officer quickly arrived at the scene, located the suspect, and ordered him to lower his weapon. He refused and the policewoman responded by cocking her gun after which the suspect lowered his weapon and was arrested.

The suspect had been holding a rifle similar to an M16 military rifle.

The police officer, who was seriously injured in a drive-by attack in Sheikh Jarrah about a year and a half ago and has since recovered and returned to work, stated immediately after the arrest. “During my shift in the Central Bus Station area, a harried-looking civilian approached me and said that a man is walking around pointing a weapon at civilians. I quickly ran to the scene along with the inspector who was with me. I saw the suspect with what appeared to be a real weapon in his hands. I didn’t take any chances and immediately pulled out my personal weapon, stomped on him while yelling at him to drop the weapon he was holding and lie down on the floor. Along with vigilance and determined and quick action out of fear that it was an attack, I immediately recognized from my interaction with him that something about him was off and he was apparently not a terrorist. At that point, the suspect threw his weapon away. I distanced him from it, he was arrested and that’s how I stopped him.”

The suspect, a resident of Yavneh in his 20s, was arrested and taken for questioning. According to an initial investigation, it’s believed that the suspect suffers from mental health issues.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)