Mother of 2 shot dead in street of Arab village

Nasrin Musrati, 26, found with multiple gunshot wounds; Police say she left Ramle 2 years ago due to domestic violence.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Police car in Tel Aviv at night 311 (photo credit: Yoni Cohen)
Police car in Tel Aviv at night 311
(photo credit: Yoni Cohen)
A mother of two young children was brutally gunned down on the street of an Arab village on Monday, two years after fleeing her home due to domestic violence.
The murder victim, Nasrin Musrati, 26, was found by Magen David Adom paramedics with multiple gunshot wounds on a street in Kafr Yasif, near Acre. The paramedics rushed her by ambulance to the Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya, but after failing to revive her, pronounced her dead on the way.
In the minutes after the shooting, police units from the Acre station arrived on the scene, and set up roadblocks in the area in an effort to capture the gunman.
Police said Musrati, who had two sons aged four and six, left her native city of Ramle two years ago due to domestic violence.
Social Services moved Musrati and her children to a rented apartment in far-off Kafr Yasif six months ago, to distance her from her husband.
Her new location was supposed to remain a secret.
Before that, she lived in another accommodation outside of Ramle.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Welfare and Social Services confirmed Monday that the woman was known to Social Services as being at risk and had been moved from her home in Ramle to Kfar Yasif. The transfer apartment, said the spokeswoman, is more open than a battered women’s shelter.
Even though the location of the apartments is meant to be a secret, the women are allowed to come and go freely.
The homicide investigation is being led by the Coastal Police District’s central unit, which took over from the local Acre police station. Forensic officers remained on the scene for hours on Monday collecting evidence, while detectives questioned witnesses.
Authorities have in the past struggled to keep Arab women under risk of domestic violence safe.
Last year, the husband of a woman who police say was shot dead in an executionstyle slaying in Lod was arrested as the main murder suspect.
Ruth Eglash contributed to this report.