Washington Post
February 25, 2014
One of Montgomery County’s most notorious killers, Samuel Sheinbein, was fatally shot Sunday during a firefight with guards inside a prison in Israel. At least three guards were injured, one of them critically.
Sheinbein, 33, was a 17-year-old high school student in 1997 when he and a friend killed another teenager, used a power saw to cut off the victim’s arms and legs and wrapped the torso in trash bags. Then, with detectives on his heels, Sheinbein fled to Israel, where he was able to fend off extradition. He eventually pleaded guilty there in connection with the killing of Alfredo Tello Jr., 19, and was sentenced to 24 years behind bars.
“Today’s events are a shocking end to one the most brutal cases ever committed in Montgomery County,” said John McCarthy, state’s attorney for Montgomery.
When it first broke, the case created a rift between the U.S. and Israeli governments, with the latter initially signaling that it would back Sheinbein’s refusal to return to Maryland. Israeli officials eventually sided with the United States, but that country’s courts sided with Sheinbein. The case prompted a change in how Israel treats such matters.
It was not immediately clear what Sheinbein’s motives were Sunday or how he managed to get a gun inside the Rimonim Prison in central Israel. But shortly after 2 p.m., “he opened fire on three security guards inside the prison,” said Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman.
Prison officials quickly closed off part of the prison, and Sheinbein isolated himself inside a cell. He didn’t take any prisoners.
Counterterrorism officers moved in. They tried to communicate with Sheinbein, but about 90 minutes after the initial shots, he fired more rounds, police said.
“He opened fire at the counterterrorism units,” Rosenfeld said, “and they shot and killed him.”