Scene of Western Wall shooting
Scene of Western Wall shootingFlash 90

An Israeli security guard who shot dead a Jewish man at the Western Wall is suspected of murdering him after "a verbal confrontation", a court protocol revealed on Tuesday, according to AFP.

The Jerusalem Magistrate's Court also allowed to publish the name of the suspect of the Friday shooting -- Hadi Qabalan, a resident of the Druze village Beit Jann in northern Israel, who had served as a border police officer before becoming a security guard.

Qabalan had initially told police he shot Doron Ben Shloush dead in an act of self-defense after the latter yelled "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) and tried to pull something out of his pocket, presumably an object that could be used to attack him.

This, Qabalan said, led to him suspecting that Ben Shloush was a Palestinian terrorist.

However in a turn of events, the court protocol showed that Qabalan was being held "on suspicion of murder", having shot Ben Shloush after "a verbal confrontation between the two."

According to the NRG-Maariv news website, Qabalan shot Ben Shloush – a 46-year-old homeless man who frequented Jerusalem's Old City and was subject to rage attacks -- after on Friday the latter called him a "son of a bitch Druze", following weeks of confrontations between the two.

The court extended Qabalan's remand by another six days.