Sgt. Shlomo Elmakias

Apr 28, 2001 - Sgt. Shlomo Elmakias, 20, of Netanya, was shot and killed in a drive-by terrorist shooting attack on the Wadi Ara highway in the Galilee.

The incident occured on the road connecting Afula and Hadera through Wadi Ara, at about 10 PM on Saturday night after spending a weekend holiday in the north, when the vehicle driven by Elmakias stopped at a traffic light at the Umm al-Fahm junction. A car stopped to the left of the vehicle in which Elmakias, his girl friend, Adi Mizrahi, 17, and three others were riding. Mizrahi said they asked Shlomo directions for Umm al-Fahm, but he rolled up the window and began to move the car forward, sensing that something was amiss. Then the shots were fired. The gunmen sped into Umm al-Fahm.

Elmakias was shot in the head and died at the scene, and the women were all wounded.

Shlomo Elmakias served as a driver in the army. He is survived by his father and a younger brother and sister, whom he helped care for during their mother's fight with cancer and since her death six years ago.

Sgt. Shlomo Elmakias was laid to rest at the Ben Zion military cemetery in Netanya.