Killed policeman's fiancée: It's not fair

Family of Yehoshua Sofer, killed in Hebron shooting attack Monday, reacts to news of officer's death

Ilana Curiel|Published: 06.14.10 , 16:54

The hall was already booked, and the suit picked out, but Command Sergeant Major Yehoshua (Shuki) Sofer, who was killed in the shooting attack south of Hebron on Monday, will not stand before his bride Einav under the chuppah.

Shuki Sofer and Einav Blum had nearly completed all the final details for the wedding, which was to take place on September 20. On Monday, Einav was left shocked and alone, supported by her family and friends.

Shortly after the shooting attack, she was called to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem, where she received the bitter news of her fiancé's death. Sofer's parents, Dalia and Yossef, escorted Einav back to the family's home in Beersheba.

Einav with photo album (Photo: Herzel Yosef)

Einav locked herself in Shuki's room, dressed in black, and looked through a photo album of the two. "Someone tell me if this is fair," Einav said, while holding the photo album close and refusing to let go.

Dalia, the police officer's mother, said one of her son's comrades told her of the moment he was hit. "We asked Shuki after he was shot, 'How are you?'," the mother quoted one of his comrades as saying. Shuki reportedly responded saying, "It will be alright."

The mother added, "They took him to the military base and then by ambulance, a half hour drive to Hadassah, there he died on the operating table. Just this morning I spoke to him, I made him something to drink every day. He gave me a kiss: 'Mother, I'm going'. And I told him, 'May God be with you'."

Shuki's mother, after hearing of his death (Photo: Herzel Yosef)

Yossef, Shuki's father, said, "He was a good man with a good heart, amiable, a good soul, to his friends and his family. I spoke to him at 6:30 am, he was going to get married and all the arrangements were made. He waited a long time to find somebody. He was excited and happy about the wedding."

Shuki and Einav's wedding was meant to be the start of a new life for the two. "He was going to move to a new, large apartment," the father said. "He was an excellent cop who really loved the police, it was in his soul. It never worried him. We were the ones who were worried and afraid.

"Sometimes he would come home late at night, in an armored patrol car, but he always said, 'Don't worry'."

Sofer was survived by three sisters, one of them his twin, and a brother. He was laid to rest Monday evening in Beersheba.

Three other officers where injured in the shooting attack, one sustained moderate wounds and the others were lightly injured.