Victim’s family: This is not a gay issue... it’s never right to fire a gun
Aug. 3, 2009 HANNAH FISHER , THE JERUSALEM POST The family of one of the victims of Saturday’s shooting attack at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv spoke out for the first time since the attack, expressing their shock and outrage at the targeting of innocent Israeli youth, regardless of the motive. Or Gill, 16, was shot twice in the attack, and while doctors at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv say that hopefully he will be released from hospital within the next couple of days, at the present time it is unknown whether he will ever walk again. "At the moment, Or doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s being given painkillers and so doesn’t feel the agony he’s really in. Or’s friends visit him constantly, and he has no time to think about what’s happened or what his life will be like after the attack and once he leaves the hospital," a spokesman for the family, a close relative of Or’s mother who wished to remain anonymous, said Monday. When asked whether the family thought the attack had been motivated by homophobia, the spokesman said, "It doesn’t matter whether or not this is a gay issue, the attack is dreadful and it’s never right to fire a gun, especially at innocent teenagers." Or was a frequent visitor to the gay youth center on the corner of Nachmani and Ahad Ha’am streets, and his mother knew he was there on Saturday night, the relative said. While chatting and playing games with his friends, Or noticed a man enter the room dressed in black, wearing a balaclava and holding a gun.