Man attacks US embassy guard in Tel Aviv

Attacker stabs and injures security guard; warning shots fired; shooter is in police custody.

Police generic in english crime scene 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar)
Police generic in english crime scene 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Navesh Chitrakar)
An Israeli man stabbed a security guard outside the US embassy in Tel Aviv late Tuesday morning, lightly injuring him.
Security guards fired warning shots at the shooter, who was subsequently arrested. Paramedics were on the scene.
Police were interrogating the shooter, a 41-year-old Jewish man from Bat Yam, police told Israel Radio.
"A Mazda car stopped next to the U.S. embassy and a man got out carrying a red bag and a pitchfork," said David Cohen, 48, who told Reuters he witnessed the incident while jogging along Tel Aviv's Mediterranean promenade.
"He began to run toward the security guards. They saw him, took their guns out and told him to get down on the ground," Cohen said.
"He continued running and then they fired in the air and ordered him agains to lie down. He continued to advance. They jumped on him and took his bag away."
The US embassy said in a statement that there was an incident but that "the situation is under control."
Israel Radio had initially reported, incorrectly, that the attacker opened fire.
Reuters contributed to this report.