Rehovot officer fights for life after stabbing

Police try to build case against convicted criminal suspected oin attack.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
police car 88 (photo credit: )
police car 88
(photo credit: )
Police searched Monday for the weapon used in the stabbing attack against Rehovot policeman Sgt.-Maj. Shlomi Asulin, as the law enforcement community tried to build a case against a convicted criminal suspected of critically wounding one of their own. Asulin, 27, a resident of Kiryat Malachi and father of two preschool-age daughters, was on duty Sunday afternoon when police received a report that two suspicious males appeared to be breaking into a vehicle in the city's industrial zone. Asulin and his partner were the first to arrive on the scene, and began to pursue the suspects into a nearby orchard. According to police accounts, a struggle then broke out between the two suspects and the two police officers. During the struggle, one of the suspected thieves, Tarb Abu Issa, allegedly pulled out a screwdriver and stabbed the policeman in the head. Abu Issa then fled the scene and was arrested several hours after the attack. Abu-Issa, 23, a Tel Sheva resident, is currently serving a four-year sentence for property-related offenses including auto theft and was released on leave for Saturday and Sunday. At his remand hearing Monday, his attorney argued that Abu Issa was at home during the attack. Police said that they received intelligence information indicating that Abu Issa was in fact in Rehovot on Sunday evening. They hope that an orange shoe left at the scene of the crime will help link Abu Issa to the attack. Forensics teams were also working to recover incriminating fingerprints from the vehicle that Abu Issa and his partner allegedly tried to steal. But police were still searching for the weapon used in the attack, which Abu Issa would have had hours to dispose of before being apprehended by police. The remands of both Abu Issa and his alleged partner were extended by eight days in the Ramle Magistrate's Court Monday. Meanwhile, Asulin's family and friends remained by his hospital room, where he was fighting for his life.