‘A truly good kid’: Independence Day murder victim’s family prays for justice

Teens who killed Yemanu Zelka for asking not to use party spray in pizzeria are ‘professional criminals’ aided by their parents, says sister; main suspect reportedly not talking

The family of Yemanu Binyamin Zelka expressed hope Monday that authorities would bring to justice the teenagers who ambushed and killed the 21-year-old pizzeria worker in Petah Tikva on Independence Day after he told them to stop using party spray in the restaurant.

“On the day the whole country was supposed to celebrate, he went to work and didn’t come back,” Zelka’s older brother Geteso told reporters near the crime scene outside the pizzeria. “These criminals knew to wait for him outside, beat him… to stab at the appropriate angle, leave him bleeding to death, and run away.”

“He was a truly good kid… You have no idea how much my brother helped the family, our mother, on a daily basis,” Geteso said, his voice breaking, as he added that his brother had served in the army and was previously a counselor in the Bnei Akiva youth group.

Zelka’s older sister Yaros alleged that her brother’s killers were “extremely professional criminals” and that “their parents are also helping them.” The main suspect’s parents have been arrested in connection with the killing.

“This is something that should raise a lot of questions for us. God willing, we will bring them to justice — not just the kids, but also the parents,” she said.

Police said nine suspects, aged 12 to 17, have been arrested, as of Monday, in connection with the killing early on Wednesday. Zelks died of his wounds on Thursday.

Six of the suspects remain in custody, two have been released to 12 days of house arrest, and the ninth, a 14-year-old arrested on Monday, will be brought to court on Tuesday, “according to developments,” to have his custody extended, police said.

“The pursuit of all those involved continues,” the police statement said.

Channel 12 reported that the main suspect, age 15, is stonewalling investigators and has broken his silence only once or twice to say, “I didn’t murder. I didn’t stab.”

The main suspect’s parents were reportedly arrested on Saturday on suspicion of tampering with the investigation after officers found him hiding out in an apartment in central Israel, Ynet has reported. Two other suspects, both age 12, are cousins from a well-known crime family and are the suspects who were released to house arrest, according to the news site.

‘I can’t believe I wasn’t able to help him’

Security camera footage from the night of the attack showed numerous youths attacking Zelka, leaving him bleeding and running away after he finished his shift at the Pizza Hut in Petah Tikva’s Kfar Ganim neighborhood. Several others watched.

A person in a gray shirt could be seen in the footage trying to talk to the attackers before they closed in on Zelka, and then kicking and punching in a bid to fend them off.

Channel 12 identified the person as a close friend and colleague of Zelka’s. Investigators have questioned the unnamed friend and the rest of the workers at the Pizza Hut that night, the network said.

According to the network, the friend told police that the gang was made up of friends of a particular boy whom Zelka had told to stop firing party spray in the Pizza Hut branch.

“The guy who fired the spray didn’t start the beating. He called his friends,” said Zelka’s co-worker.

“I told one of the kids, it’s not okay that you’re spraying in the branch. He got angry,” said the co-worker. “Binyamin tried to get them away, and very soon they started hitting, and I tried to fight them… the next thing I saw was that he collapsed.”

“I was with my back to him and he got stabbed,” said the co-worker. “I can’t believe I wasn’t able to help him.”