Pub owner murdered in Jerusalem

One of the owners of the Asgard pub in downtown Jerusalem was found stabbed to death on Wednesday afternoon just as the pub opened for the evening, police reported.

He was discovered by a co-owner in his living area located on the second floor of the bar around 2:30 p.m.

Paramedics discovered a grisly scene.

Some of the blood had already congealed by the time paramedics arrived, leading them to believe the man could have been killed hours before or even on Tuesday night.

Immanuel Stern, a Magen David Adom paramedic who responded to the scene on Shlomzion Street, said the man was unconscious and had stab wounds all over the upper half of his body. He also had a deep gash in his leg. Paramedics pronounced him dead a few minutes later.

Police are checking all leads in connection with the murder.

Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said they are not yet sure whether the man died from stab wounds or another cause such as blunt trauma.

Police transferred his body to the the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir for further autopsy.

Store owners on the street suggested that the incident could have been a robbery that turned deadly, as the bar sometimes has large amounts of money in the tills.

This is the third murder in two days, following the killing of a 43-year-old woman in Eilat and an Eritrean woman in Petah Tikva. In both instances, the women’s husbands are the prime suspects in the murder.