Ramle shooter Victor Katan indicted for murder
The 74-year-old shot Ofir Hisdai, father of three, after heated parking lot dispute
Victor Katan, the 74-yearold man who shot and killed Ofir Hisdai in late July over a parking lot argument, will be indicted for murder, the state attorney ruled on Wednesday.
The killing shocked the country, since Katan had already disabled his victim once by shooting him in the knee. The police inquiry revealed that the late Hisdai shouted: “Why are you shooting me?” before Katan aimed at his chest and pulled the trigger. Hisdai was declared dead at the hospital. According to the documents submitted by the state attorney to the Lod District Court, the second shot was a deliberate murder.
Hisdai, a father of three, worked as a security guard and he was the sole provider for his family. His wife suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), as does one of their daughters. A second daughter suffers from cerebral palsy (CP).
According to police, Hisdai, his wife, Dikla, and one of their daughters were in a car while they attempted to find parking at the Ramle Azrieli Mall on the day of the shooting. Hisdai noticed Katan and his wife’s car were parked in the space meant for two cars. He then told Katan’s wife, sitting in the driver’s seat, that they were using two spaces instead of one.
The woman responded in a manner that led to a verbal fight between the two, and she began hitting him with her purse. Hisdai reacted by shoving her, and she fell to the ground. At that moment, Katan pulled out his gun and shot Hisdai in the knee.
The court documents claim that Katan’s wife screamed at her husband to stop shooting, but that he did not heed her pleas.
According to Hisdai’s widow, her late husband first attempted to request that the couple move their car by speaking with them from his open car window and got out of their car only because the Katan family did not do so.
She also said Hisdai did not mean to shove the woman and was only defending himself from her assault on him.
“Justice has been done,” she said. “The court made a smart decision. It won’t bring Ofir back, but it shows the system works; this is what he [Katan] deserves.”
Attorney Daniel Kfir, Katan’s lawyer, claimed that “we asked for Katan to be examined by a psychiatrist, as he clearly did not intend for the act to lead to the fatal result.”