The family of Solomon Tekah got up from Shiva (the seven-day period of mourning in Judaism) on July 8 and received an update from the Department of Internal Investigations about the findings of an investigation into the circumstances of Tekah's death. As a reminder, Tekah was a young Ethiopian who was shot by a police officer on June 30. The autopsy and a ballistics investigation both found that a bullet that ricocheted off the ground killed Tekah. Ostensibly, this cleared the police officer who fired the shot of any concern that he targeted Tekah directly. Still, these are not the final findings. The Tekah family has indicated it will not accept anything less than prison for the officer who fired the shot. According to Tekah’s cousin Ora Tesma, “This was a murder, not manslaughter. We will take to the streets if necessary.”
Tekah, 18, was killed on the night of June 30 in a public park in Kiryat Haim. The police officer who fired the shot said he was at the site with his family when he saw a group of young people fighting. He tried to break it up, but they started attacking him and even threw rocks at him. Feeling that his life was in danger, he pulled out his gun and fired a single shot into the ground. Tekah was killed by that shot.
