Israeli Prison Service officers stand at the entrance to Sharon Prison while Israeli police SWAT team entered the prison, near Raanana, central Israel, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014.SHARON PRISON, Israel – Israeli special forces raided a prison in central Israel Sunday, killing a notorious prisoner who was serving time for a gruesome murder carried out in the U.S.
Police identified the inmate as Samuel Sheinbein, an American who fled to Israel after murdering and dismembering another man in Maryland in 1997 and whose case sparked a high-profile row between the two allies.
Police special forces rushed to this prison in central Israel after Sheinbein stole a weapon and shot three guards, wounding two of them seriously. He then barricaded himself inside the compound where a standoff ensued, with counter-terrorism units dispatched to the scene. The inmate then opened fire again, wounding three more guards, before the forces shot him dead, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.
Hospital officials said one of the wounded guards was fighting for his life. Police and the Israel prison service have opened investigations into the incident. Sheinbein’s lawyers told Israeli TV that their client was under duress and that the Israeli prison service has ignored their warnings.
Sheinbein, 34, was tried in Israel in 1999, two years after he fled to the country and successfully sought refuge from extradition, enraging Maryland authorities and briefly threatening U.S. aid to the Jewish state.