A man in his 40s, identified as the partner of a former reality TV contestant, was moderately wounded Wednesday afternoon when he was shot while riding a scooter in the Gush HaGadol luxury neighborhood in north Tel Aviv. Police are now trying to determine whether the attack was a violent robbery in which an expensive watch was taken, or an attempted assassination.
According to the report, two suspects arrived on a motorcycle on Yehuda Amichai Street in Tel Aviv, approached the victim as he fled on a scooter, and fired several shots. Video from the scene shows one of the riders getting off the motorcycle and chasing the victim on foot in front of bystanders, including a small child. The two suspects then escaped.
Magen David Adom evacuated the wounded man to Ichilov Hospital, where his condition was listed as moderate. Investigators from the Tel Aviv North police station opened an inquiry immediately and began collecting evidence from the scene. Police said they are examining several leads.
Among the lines of inquiry is the victim’s claim that a valuable watch was stolen from him. Investigators are trying to decide whether the incident was rooted in a criminal dispute and an effort to harm him, or a robbery that turned into a shooting. The attack comes about a year and a half after the neighborhood was shaken by the killing of luxury watch dealer Tal Shpiezman, who police believe was involved in a conflict with organized criminals. In that 2024 incident, another person was seriously injured, and footage of the killing was circulated online along with the song “Nafalta Chazak.”
