Suspects Indicted in 2003 Murder of Ashkelon Teen

The Southern District police announced yesterday that they have solved the murder of a 16-year-old girl who was gunned down last year in Ashkelon.

The two suspects were indicted yesterday in the Be'er Sheva District Court for the murder of Shaked Shelhov, who was riding in a car with two friends on July 20, 2003.

Police believe Michel Jano and Yisrael Ganon, both of Ashkelon, did not intend to kill Shelhov and shot her as part of a gang war. Shelhov was riding in a car with her friend Yaniv Revah and another teenage girl. At the intersection of Begin and Rabin streets, a vehicle overtook them and one of the passengers opened fire on Shelhov and her friends. Shelhov was killed and the other two were wounded.

The suspects apparently intended to kill the leader of a rival gang as part of a struggle over the control of sand theft operations in the Ashkelon area.

The target, rival gang leader Shalom Domrani, had been in the car a short time before the murder, but got out, and Revah drove off to pick up Shelhov.

The first breakthrough in the investigation came last October, when the two suspects tried to kidnap Revah, fearing he might finger them in Shelhov's murder. The police, who had been following the suspects, foiled the kidnap attempt and saved Revah.

The second breakthrough occurred at the beginning of 2004, when an escaped convict was caught at Ben-Gurion Airport, trying to leave Israel. The fugitive, Yaron Sankar, testified that the suspects were involved in the murder.

The suspects were arrested and are currently in jail for the attempted kidnapping. During the past few weeks the police and Southern District prosecution wrote up the charges for the murder, which were submitted to court yesterday.

The two are also charged with attempting to murder one of gang leader Domrani's friends, Shai Ben-Amo, about six weeks before murdering Shelhov.

The southern district police commander and incoming national police chief Moshe Karadi told reporters yesterday the murder was considered unusual even in the criminal world.

"Unlike other cases, the murderers were not proud of their act," Karadi said. He said the two remained silent and did not cooperate with police investigators.