Police cordon of the scene of Jerusalem shooting
Police cordon of the scene of Jerusalem shootingYonatan Sindel/Flash90

Tal HaCohen Dan, an eyewitness to yesterday's terrorist attack that left two people dead, recounted the events step by step from the time the shooting began until the police's quick response.

"I was on my way to take an exam at Hebrew University. I was waiting at the Ammunition Hill light rail station. When I got on the bus I heard three gunshots. I realized it was gunfire and panicked. I told the person sitting next to me it was gunshots, but she said it was nothing and not to worry. The bus moved a few meters and then there were more gunshots. The bus stopped and I saw the police running with their guns out and many people, Jews and Arabs, running in all directions.

"I was on the 48A, which goes to the Military Infirmary on Mt. Scopus. So all but four of the passengers were soldiers, three of whom were armed. They started to move towards him (the shooter) but the fear [of the gunshots] got them to lie on the floor with us. There was a baby on the bus and I was really scared something would happen to her. There was also an asthmatic female soldier who had an attack and needed her inhaler.

"It was horrible. We were all on the floor. I was screaming, terrified. We had no idea what was happening or which one the terrorist was with all the people running around.

Dan praised the police for their quick response to the attack. "It should be noted that the police and the security forces came really quickly,like within a few seconds."

She recalled her emotions in the midst of the attack: "The fear of the unknown paralyzes you. You start to think the worst and just pray that everything will be over."

Dan then rebuked the nation's leaders for not providing security. "It can't be that in the State of Israel, the state of the Jewish people, with the strongest army (in the region), that civilians are put in danger every day. Citizens, certainly not Jewish citizens, should not live in fear! God gave us power, and we should use it."