Guard who neutralized terrorist: 'I jumped, without thinking twice'
'I just wanted to catch this person, and for him to not hurt any more people around,' says the guard, a shift manager for the Mikud security company; ' I did everything I was trained to do,' he adds.
Police were on high alert in Jerusalem on Monday, with heavy security placed on the central bus station in the capital after Sunday's attack, in which security guard Asher Elmaliach was seriously wounded. Three Arabs were detained and not allowed into the station.
"Without thinking twice, I just ran. I just wanted to catch this person, and for him to not hurt any more people around," said the guard, a shift manager for the Mikud security company.
"We didn't know if he had another knife, we didn't know anything. I simply attacked. I did everything I was trained to do, everything we were taught," the guard continued.
He said he did not witness the stabbing itself, but did not hesitate when he realized what had happened.
"When I heard in my earpiece that a security guard had been stabbed, I jumped (the terrorist) and flattened him on the floor."
Taxi driver and retired policeman Yosef Ben Amo received a certificate of honor from Jerusalem District Police Commander Yoram Halevi and from the city’s Mayor Nir Barkat for his aid in apprehending the terrorist, but security footage from the incident shows he actually hindered efforts by the guard to neutralize the attacker.
Ben Amo said he had initially mistaken the incident to be a brawl, trying to pull the security shift manager away from the terrorist.
The terror attack came in the wake of US President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, a declaration that garnered condemnation from around the world and led to widespread rioting in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem over the weekend.
"We received intelligence about an intention to carry out an attack inside the station," a police intelligence official said. "We passed the information on to Ben-Avraham, the station's head of security, who instructed the security guards to be more vigilant in light of the alerts."
The Mikud security company increased security on Sunday in and around the central bus station in addition to the Border Police troops deployed to the station on a regular basis. Despite the increased security, the terrorist was able to seriously wound security guard Asher Elmaliach.
