The parents of an off-duty soldier who shot dead a civilian at the scene of a deadly terror attack in Jerusalem last month penned a letter to the victim’s family on Thursday.
Staff Sgt. (res.) Aviad Frija, one of two off-duty troops who responded to the November 30 attack, opened fire on the two terrorists but also at Yuval Castleman, an armed civilian who had stopped his car across the street, got out and himself opened fire on the terrorists.
Footage from the scene showed that Frija shot and killed Castleman after the latter had put his gun down and was holding his hands in the air, shouting “Don’t shoot.” Frija was questioned under caution last week, arrested, then released to house arrest three days later. He is suspected of having committed reckless homicide.
Castleman’s family has called his death an “execution.” On Monday, State Attorney Amit Aisman ordered the Department of Internal Police Investigations (DIPI) to open an examination into the conduct of the investigative team dealing with the killing.
An autopsy on Sunday found an M-16 bullet and pieces of shrapnel in Castleman’s exhumed body, findings which were at odds with the Israel Police’s position immediately after the incident that there were no bullets left in Castleman’s body, and that such a procedure was unnecessary.
In their letter to Castleman’s parents leaked to several Hebrew media outlets, Frija’s parents said, “We wish to share in your grief from the bottom of our son’s heart,” adding that they had wished to speak face-to-face but respect the family’s request for privacy.
“It is important for us to convey our sincere feelings of sorrow to you. We mourn and hurt over the tragic death of the late Yuval, who acted with immense bravery and courage against monstrous terrorists. We have no doubt that his action was born out of the values on which he was raised and educated,” the Frijas wrote.
“We are very sorry for all the additional pain caused due to the way the investigating authorities conducted themselves and for the additional pain you had to experience due to the late autopsy,” they wrote.
The IDF said that new information in the investigation revealed after Castleman was buried led to the need for an autopsy, adding that his family had agreed to allow his body to be exhumed for the examination.
“Our son has been mentally broken since the attack,” Frija’s parents wrote, adding that Aviad was “a man [with] a simple working life” and “a true desire to do good for others.”
Three people were killed and five were injured by the terrorists in the November attack claimed by Hamas. Castleman was driving on the other side of the street when the attack occurred; he stopped his car, crossed the road and rushed at the terrorists and fired at them.
Frija’s lawyers, Col. (res,) Shlomi Tzipori and Col. (res.) Ran Cohen Rochberger, said in a statement to the media last week that the videos showing the terror attack and fatal shooting “create a partial and false impression that does not reflect what was seen and heard from the direction of the soldier.
Following the Military Police investigation, the IDF will decide if criminal charges should be brought against Frija. IDF protocols do not allow soldiers to shoot someone who raises their hands in the air, and officials say the soldier’s conduct during the incident was not what was expected of him based on the norms and values of the military.