
New details emerged Thursday morning about the deadly stabbing attack outside of Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem yesterday afternoon.
Jerusalem resident Ofer Ben-Ari succumbed to gunshot wounds incurred during the attack shortly before 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening, followed less than an hour later by second stabbing victim Reuven Birmacher.
Asi Aharoni, spokesman for the Jerusalem District Police, told Army Radio on Thursday that Ben-Ari was shot by security forces while trying to stop the terrorists from stabbing Birmacher to death.
"This is a civilian who apparently understood it was an attack and struggled with the terrorists," Aharoni explained.
He then turned to the general public and urged them to "let police do their jobs. We are trained for this."
Meanwhile on Thursday morning, Dr. Ofer Merin of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem said the condition of the third man seriously injured in the attack had stabilized.
"He had surgery and his condition has improved an stabilized," Dr. Merin said. "He was moved to intensive care and I am pleased to announce that overall his condition this morning is good. He is awake and responsive and his condition is not life-threatening. I fully expect him to be moved out of intensive care sometime in the morning."