Brother of Nahariya ‘vigilante cop’ shot by masked gunman

Zohar Hadad, 50, was hit in the leg and lightly wounded when a masked gunman fired at him inside the city's community center, fled the scene.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
crime scene (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [illustrative])
crime scene
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [illustrative])
The brother of one of the four Nahariya police officers convicted of placing bombs in the car and home of alleged underworld crime figure Michael Mor was shot Thursday afternoon outside the city’s community center.
Zohar Hadad, 50, was hit in the leg and lightly wounded when a masked gunman fired at him inside the community center and fled the scene. Hadad, the center’s director, was alone in his office at the time of the attack.
Police are investigating whether or not the attack was connected to the underworld crime scene in Nahariya.
“We’re investigating every direction possible, including the connection to the vigilante cops affair,” said Galilee Police spokesman Ch.-Supt. Eran Shaked, who said the police were taking Mor’s role in the incident “into consideration.”
Hadad’s brother, Eldad Hadad, was one of four police officers in Nahariya known as the “vigilante cops,” who placed explosives in Mor’s car and home after the alleged crime kingpin initiated a campaign of intimidation against the officers that included the throwing of a grenade and planting of explosives around their homes. The officers claimed that their superiors had ignored their pleas for help. The four were convicted in July 2009 and sentenced to one year in prison.
Mor and three others were arrested earlier this week on unrelated extortion charges against a Nahariya businessman.
Zohar Hadad was taken to the Nahariya Hospital after the shooting and was expected to be released late Thursday night.
All of the families have been receiving police protection since the episode came to light in 2006, though that protection will be stepped up in the coming days, said Shaked. He added that this was the first case of violence against any of the family members.