Protests in Haifa after Ethiopian teen shot by off-duty police officer
"He was a child with the happiness of life, who knew to hug, to help and to support," said Solomon's father. "He was so caring, with a huge heart, a child who gave greatly."
Dozens protested in front of the police station in Haifa on Monday morning after Solomon Tekah, an 18-year old Israeli-Ethiopian, was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer on Sunday night.
"We're looking for justice," Tekah's father Verka Nazara Tekah told mako at the protest. "I lost a child. A precious child. God, do justice with the people who took a child before his time when he had not done anything, not been able to do anything. He only came to play with his friends."
"He was a child with the happiness of life, who knew to hug, to help and to support," Verka said about Solomon. "He was so caring, with a huge heart, a child who gave greatly."
Solomon was "a child who wanted to get to [the IDF's] infantry, to give, to draft," Verka added. "He was educated with values and good deeds, in a good community. How did they take this from me?"
During the protests, a police officer told the protesters that "the Department for the Investigation of Police is part of the Justice Ministry and are not connected to the police." The police returned and called for the dozens of protesters to hold an orderly protest, instead of the improvised demonstration.
"The blood of our brother who died a few minutes ago, he was murdered in cold blood," responded one of the protesters. "I say to you, we cannot give up, but I ask one thing: We have to fight with all our power but we need to protect our culture. We cannot give up, tomorrow or in two days they'll shoot us."
The police claimed that the officer saw a group of people fighting and was attacked when he attempted to break up the fight, but the father of one of the youth involved in the shooting said that there was no violence before the off-duty officer came.
On Sunday evening, police units arrived at the scene of a reported shooting and when looking into the incident, realized that an off-duty officer had been in a playground area with his wife and his three children when he witnessed a fight nearby, according to the police.
"He approached the group of people that were involved in the fight and after making clear to the group that he was a policeman, they started throwing stones at him," the police said in a statement.
According to the off-duty officer, he felt his life was in danger and pulled out his pistol and shot one of the boys. He was detained on Monday morning for questioning.
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