Some witnesses from the southern city of Beersheba declared about hearing gunfire and even saw a near-by school go into lock-down after the two robbers carried out their heist during lunchtime hours. The bank was near a residential street and thus Police operation became even more dangerous. Besides one of the gunmen who killed himself four other people, a customer and three bank employees, have been killed.
Yoram Levy, regional Police Commander, publicly stated that while they managed to apprehend one of the gunmen the other one remained in the bank and took at least one hostage. Police managed to recover the hostage(s) unharmed.
Violent bank robberies such as this one are rather rare events in Israel. The latest similar event was back in 2011 when a bank security guard was killed by a robber in a bank located in the center of the country.
