An Israeli Arab opened fire on a pub in Tel Aviv, killing Alon Bakal, 26, and Shimon Ruime, 30, and wounding seven others, two seriously . OneFamily mourns the tragic loss of life and stands in support with all the victims and their families.

Both Alon and Shimon were standing outside the pub when the shooter opened fire from Dizengof Street, a central street in Tel Aviv.

Alon, the manager of Simta bar where the shooting took place, had recently graduated from law school and was due to start working in a law office. He had moved to Tel Aviv from Carmiel three months earlier.

The attack took place in mid-afternoon on New Year’s Day 2015. The night before the attack, Alon sent his father a text message wishing him a happy New Year. “It’s fun, I love life,” he wrote.

His father said Alon was a happy person who made others around him happy. “He was our world,” Alon’s father said. “There was no other boy as happy as he. He beamed light wherever he was, and he made everyone around him smile.”

Shimon, a resident of Ofakim, had traveled to Tel Aviv to celebrate the birthday of a friend. His friend Yisrael Avitan also hit by a bullet but survived the attack.

“It’s surreal. We got through Lebanon, we got through Gaza, and it happens to us in Tel Aviv,” Avitan told Ynet after the attack. “We’ve gone through so many things and then suddenly at a bar in Tel Aviv on a Friday afternoon….”

Shimon was a civilian employee of the IDF. He was the third of four siblings.

The terrorist is believed to be an Arab resident of the Arara village in northern Israel. He previously served five years in prison for an attack on an IDF soldier. A video was published of the terrorist casually shopping at a store on Dizengof before running outside and opening fire with an automatic weapon.

The terrorist remains at large as of three days after the attack. Security forces have launched a massive manhunt.