Shalom Yochai Sherki, 25, died from a car ramming attack in Jerusalem. Photo: Courtesy of Family / Shalom Sherki.

JNS.org – “I wanted to murder Jews,” 37-year-old Arab man Khaled Koutineh, who drove his car into a bus stop in Jerusalem’s French Hill junction last week, reportedly told Shin Bet security agency investigators, confirming their suspicions.

The Shin Bet had suspected that the April 16 incident, which killed Shalom Yohai Sherki, 26, and seriously injured Shira Klein, 20, was a terrorist attack, but also pursued leads suggesting an accident. According to Israel’s Channel 2, Koutineh, who holds an Israeli ID card, told investigators that he was driving around Jerusalem in his car “looking to murder Jews” over what he called his “miserable life,” saying he and several of his relatives had been detained at a security checkpoint in eastern Jerusalem.

During questioning, Koutineh reportedly said he decided Sherki and Klein were Jews “by the way they were dressed.” He further confessed that he initially sought to use a pre-existing mental condition to claim he was insane and shirk responsibility for the attack.