One of the Haifa shooting scenes, this morning
One of the Haifa shooting scenes, this morningMagen David Adom

Haredi residents of Haifa are in shock after the attempted murder of 48-year-old Rabbi Yechiel Iluz, who serves as a conversion judge in Haifa.

A., an employee at one of the rabbinical courts in Haifa told Arutz 7 that Rabbi Iluz is a Torah personality who has no connection with the criminal world. "This is a man of great stature. Modest and quiet. A superlative scholar who has nothing to do with criminal acts. He is as far from these things as the east is from the west".

According to him, the Rabbi remains in shock and believes that this is a case of mistaken identity. "At the announcement of the murder attempt we went into shock. Everyone here is convinced it's mistaken identity. People who spoke with the Rabbi himself say he was shocked. He sees no reason anyone would want to hurt him."

Rabbi Iluz, a resident of Migdal HaEmek who serves as a judge in the conversion court, was shot this morning on HaAtzmaut street in Haifa and was brought in moderate condition to Rambam Hospital in Haifa. The shooting suspect fled and police commenced a search. Another employee of the court had been previously shot dead.

Police have launched a manhunt with helicopter support for the suspect who escaped the two shooting scenes. Police believe there is a connection between the events in light of the fact that the dead and the injured were both religious services workers in Haifa.

Raz Diamand, the MDA paramedic who treated the man who was killed, said: "When we got there we saw a man lying on the sidewalk who had suffered gunshot wounds to the upper body. We started to administer CPR and we attempted advanced resuscitation, but unfortunately the injury was very serious and we were forced to pronounce him dead on the spot. "

Shloimie Feder, a Hatzalah volunteer, said: "When I arrived I came across a man suffering gunshot wounds to the upper body without a pulse and not breathing. I did advanced CPR but sadly he was pronounced dead."