The family of Yemanu Binyamin Zelka expressed hope Monday that authorities would bring to justice the teenagers who ambushed and killed the 21-year-old pizzeria worker in Petah Tikva on Independence Day after he told them to stop using party spray in the restaurant.

“On the day the whole country was supposed to celebrate, he went to work and didn’t come back,” Zelka’s older brother Geteso told reporters near the crime scene outside the pizzeria. “These criminals knew to wait for him outside, beat him… to stab at the appropriate angle, leave him bleeding to death, and run away.”

“He was a truly good kid… You have no idea how much my brother helped the family, our mother, on a daily basis,” Geteso said, his voice breaking, as he added that his brother had served in the army and was previously a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth group.

Zelka’s older sister Yaros alleged that her brother’s killers were “extremely professional criminals” and that “their parents are also helping them.” The main suspect’s parents have been arrested in connection with the killing.

“This is something that should raise a lot of questions for us. God willing, we will bring them to justice — not just the kids, but also the parents,” she said.

Police said nine suspects, aged 12 to 17, have been arrested, as of Monday, in connection with the killing early on Wednesday. Zelks died of his wounds on Thursday.

Six of the suspects remain in custody, two have been released to 12 days of house arrest, and the ninth, a........

© The Times of Israel