A man who was critically injured in a terror attack on a bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood two weeks ago succumbed to his wounds at the Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in the capital.
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Richard Lakin, 76, who was shot in the head and stabbed in the chest during the terrorist attack, underwent several surgeries and his condition had stabilized for a short time before worsening over the past days. Doctors pronounced him dead on Monday. He was the third victim of the attack to die of his wounds.
Lakin moved to Israel from Connecticut along with his wife, Karen, and their two teenage children 32 years ago. They settled in Jerusalem, where he and his wife opened a business focused on teaching English to people of all ages and backgrounds, including many Palestinian children from the area. He was still teaching students up until the day of the attack.
He authored two books, one of them titled “Teaching as an Act of Love.”
Richard Lakin, who was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem in October 2015 (via Facebook)
Richard Lakin, who was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem in October 2015 (via Facebook)
Lakin and his wife Karen were active in the American civil rights movement during the 1960s, and both frequently participated in Freedom Rides to several states in the US’s south, in protest of racial segregation on interstate buses.
“Dad was a kind, gentle loving person whose legacy is ‘acts of kindness,’ Lakin’s children wrote on their father’s Facebook page following his death.
“Dad’s basic views as expressed on his website were: Every child is a miracle, kindness and positivism are contagious, empowerment frees people to realize their potential, parenting and teaching are acts of love, schools must be caring learning communities where pluralism and opportunities for choice abound.
“We love you Dad and will do our best to live respectful, loving lives and pass along ‘acts of kindness,'” the Facebook post concluded.
Lakin was to be laid to rest on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at the Eretz HaHaim cemetery in Beit Shemesh.
Haviv Haim, 78, and Alon Govberg, 51, were also killed in the attack, when two terrorists raided Egged bus 78 in Jerusalem, shooting and stabbing the passengers on board. Haim’s wife, Shoshana, 70, was seriously wounded in the attack as well.
An additional 15 people were injured in the attack.
Haim Haviv, 78, was killed Tuesday October 13, 2015 in a terror attack on a bus in Jerusalem's Armon Hanatziv neighborhood. His wife Shoshana was hospitalized in serious condition. (Courtesy)
Haim Haviv, 78, was killed Tuesday October 13, 2015 in a terror attack on a bus in Jerusalem’s Armon Hanatziv neighborhood. His wife Shoshana was hospitalized in serious condition. (Courtesy)
The two attackers were shot and subdued by police. One terrorist died of his wounds, and the other is in custody.
That attack was followed minutes later by a car-ramming and stabbing attack in the capital’s Makor Baruch neighborhood, where a Palestinian terrorist from Jabel Mukaber slammed his car into pedestrians at a bus stop before jumping out and hacking an elderly Israeli man to death with a meat cleaver. The attacker was shot dead by a passerby.
Raoul Wootliff contributed to this report.