KEY POINTS

  • The bus was in a parking lot when the shooting occurred
  • One of the injured was a father trying to protect his family
  • The suspect fled the scene but later turned himself in

Five Americans were among the eight people wounded after a Palestinian opened fire inside a bus in Jerusalem on Sunday.

All five were Brooklyn residents, including a pregnant woman who suffered abdominal injuries and was forced to undergo an emergency C-section following the attack.

The targeted bus was waiting for passengers in a parking lot near the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City when the shooting took place at around 1:30 a.m. local time, ABC News reported.

U.S. ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides confirmed that "Americans were injured in this attack."

The injured pregnant woman and her baby were in critical condition, officials said.

Three of the woman's family members too were wounded in the shooting. The family had arrived in Israel a week before and were on their way to a site known as David's Tomb when the shooting took place.

The father was shot in his head and neck while his son was shot in the arm.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., identified one of the victims from Williamsburg as Shia Hersh Glick. Schumer said he spoke to Glick's friends and was told that the father tried shielding his family during the shooting.

"He was very brave," Schumer said as he acknowledged the shooting during an unrelated news conference Sunday. "He bent down over his family to protect them. He was shot in the neck and they had him on a respirator, but it looks like his condition is improving."

"We're all hoping and praying for the families that were shot in Israel. It hits so close to home because at least three of those eight on the bus were American, and Brooklynites," Schumer added.

A 22-year-old man from Crown Heights, Menachem Palace, also sustained injuries during the attack. His father, Dovid Palace, said the 22-year-old jumped to protect a child when the shooter opened fire.

"He actually saved the girl next to him. He jumped over when the bullet was flying, and he saved — I don't know how old the girl was — but he saved someone, and it was like a big deal," Palace told the New York Post.

"I understand it was a baby in a carriage, so they couldn't move," the father added and said his surviving son also "had a big miracle."

The shooter is reportedly in his 20s and was described by Israeli media as a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship. He fled the scene but later turned himself in, according to CNN.

The attack against the bus occurred near King David's Tomb in Jerusalem's Old City
Read more
Israel