Two people were shot dead overnight Wednesday-Thursday in separate incidents amid a prolonged violent crime crisis in the Arab community that has claimed nine lives this week, four of them within 24 hours between Wednesday morning and Thursday morning.

One person was fatally shot in Haifa and another in the northern Arab town of Reineh. Police said the shootings were criminal cases and not linked to terrorist activity.

The violence began shortly after midnight when Israel Police and medics said an 18-year-old was shot dead and two others were seriously wounded in Haifa.

The victim was identified by Hebrew media as Christian Arab Haifa resident Jonathan Houri, 18.

The Magen David Adom (MDA) ambulance service said that when they arrived at the site, they found three men with gunshot wounds, one of whom had no vital signs and was declared dead. The other two were taken in serious condition to the Ramban Medical Center. Another man who was lightly injured in the shooting made his own way to the hospital.

The police district commander arrived at the scene of the shooting, and officers began gathering evidence and searching for suspects.

הנרצח בחנות בחיפה – ג'ונתן חורי בן ה-18.הוא הצעיר שנרצח הלילה ביריות בחנות נוחות בשדרות ההגנה בכניסה לחיפה. מלבדו נפצעו עוד שני צעירים באורח קשה, ואדם נוסף התפנה עצמאית ומצבו הוגדר קל. המשטרה סורקת אחר חשודים ומסרה כי מחקירה ראשונית עולה שהרקע פלילי. pic.twitter.com/S6X8alcAoN Advertisement if(typeof rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner != "function" || !rgb_remove_toi_dfp_banner("#Article_Incontent1")){ window.tude = window.tude || { cmd: [] }; tude.cmd.push(function() { if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("rgbmedia-app") > -1){........

© The Times of Israel