US tourist opens fire in Israeli hotel, one dead

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Attacker stole a gun from a hotel security guard and fired a number of shots
Incident appeared to be based on a personal dispute
One person dead at the Leonardo Club hotel
5:02AM EST October 5. 2012 -

JERUSALEM (AP) — A young American opened fire at a hotel in the Red Sea resort city of Eilat Friday, killing one person before police shot him dead. The incident appeared to be based on a personal dispute.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the attacker stole a gun from a hotel security guard and fired a number of shots at the Leonardo Club hotel in the Red Sea resort city, killing one person.

Police anti-terror units stormed the hotel, and the gunman fired back from the hotel kitchen, Rosenfeld said. Police returned fire, killing the attacker, he said.

Dana Zinati, a spokeswoman for the Eilat municipality, told Israel's Channel 2 that the man is an American Jewish man in his 20s who came to Israel on a program that brings American Jews to Israel.

Israeli media reported the man had once worked at the hotel, and that the person he killed was a hotel employee who had argued with him. Police could not immediately verify that account.