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Israeli man in Memphis ‘lured into a trap’ before being robbed and brutally killed: ‘He was a man of peace’
Israeli locksmith Aviv Broek, 21, was reportedly “lured into a trap” disguised as a late night job, robbed and brutally shot dead in Memphis.
A young Israeli locksmith was reportedly “lured into a trap” disguised as a late night job, robbed and brutally murdered in Memphis. Aviv Broek, 21 was shot four times in the stomach.
Memphis police said that the victim had not struggled. Broek’s friend said, according to Ynet, that “on Thursday evening, around 10:30 pm, Aviv received a call to change a lock” before he was found on the 2300 block of Hernando Road on Friday morning, shortly after 1:15 am.
Rotem, Broek’s brother, said that he believes there is “background” to the case. However, he believes there is “no antisemitism in Memphis.
“We don’t know if that is the background to the case, but in my opinion it is,” Rotem said. “He was a giving person, always ready to help others. When they called him, they claimed it was an urgent situation—that someone’s mother was stuck in a car—and offered to pay him double. They lured him into a trap, bringing him to an abandoned house.”
Broek’s friend said, “When he got out of the car in an isolated alley, he was robbed and shot four times in the stomach. According to the police, he did not resist or struggle, yet they shot and killed him.”
Was the murder a hate crime?
The Memphis Police Department is not investigating the murder as a hate crime at present, The Mirror reported. However, according to Israeli media, the death was being investigated by local police “as a suspected terror attack.”
“There has been no arrests in this case. This is an active investigation and there is no indication at this time of a hate crime,” the Tennessee department’s public information office told JNS, adding that it “is pursuing all leads.”
Broek was from Rehovot, a city in Israel. He was reportedly found by his friends, who sensed something was wrong and tracked him through his mobile.
One friend revealed that another friend, who worked with Broek, “reached him two hours after the shooting. They found him lying on the floor and immediately called the police.” “They used a location app on their phones, and that’s how they found him. As soon as the app stopped working, we started to suspect something was up,” the friend added. The friend also said that the suspect took Broek’s “work equipment worth thousands of dollars, cash and even his passport.”
“He was a man of peace, someone who loved life and new experiences. He was brave and never afraid of anything. This tragedy shocked us,” Broek’s brother added. “We thought it was safer there than in Israel. Aviv always told us he took care of himself and avoided dangerous places.”
