A 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Rehovot early on Sunday, marking the
fifth violent death in a wave of homicides around the country in recent
days.
Orgil Mauti was walking near his home in southern Rehovot late at
night when he came across three youths. Police suspect that the youths
were “offended” in the past by Mauti. When they saw him again, a verbal
altercation ensued, then the youths began pursuing Mauti on foot.
They
caught up with him on a footpath near a kindergarten, where one of the youths
produced a knife and stabbed Mauti in the chest repeatedly. The suspects then
fled the scene.
Local residents who heard the commotion alerted emergency
services, but by the time Magen David Adom paramedics arrived on the scene,
Mauti had lost a large amount of blood and was slipping out of
consciousness.
“He was in critical condition. We rushed him to
hospital, but he lost his pulse in the ambulance. We proceeded to try and revive
him,” MDA spokesman Zaki Heller said.
Doctors continued to try and save
him at the Kaplan Medical Center, but pronounced him dead soon
afterwards.
Police arrested three suspects, and believe one of them is
the stabber. On Sunday afternoon, the main murder suspect, who is a minor and
has previous criminal convictions, recreated the attack before
detectives.
The Rehovot Youth Magistrate’s Court extended his remand
until May 14.
On Sunday morning, stunned relatives and friends gathered
near the family’s home, situated on a street with modern five-story apartment
buildings, while a man poured soapy water on the sidewalk to brush away the
bloodstains.
“Another minute and he would have been home. Poor guy,” said
a tearful woman as she stood nearby.
“He always smiled. He was happy. I
never saw him upset and never saw him harm anyone,” said Raphel Ohana, 18, who
was acquainted with the murder victim.
Ohana said many youths walked
around the area in groups and that many were armed with knives.
“He may
have looked at them the wrong way. That could be enough,” he said. “We
always walk around in groups [to defend ourselves] at night... We stick
together, and try to avoid confrontations with others. We could be
stabbed.”
“I feel like I’m still sleeping. I can’t believe this
happened,” said Yair Kokolai, another friend. “He liked to wander around with
us. He always laughed.”
Other residents expressed anger at the
police.
“This is a disaster. I don’t buy the claim that the police have a
budget problem,” one man said.
Mauti’s father is a senior officer in the
IDF, and was called to the family home soon after news of the attack broke.