A secretary at the Israeli Embassy in Santo Domingo, Aviv Cohen, was murdered in the suburb of Naco on 26 September, when trying to prevent his wife being assaulted. The immediate reaction of the National Department of Investigations (DNI) was to impose an exit prohibition on all residents in the D.R. of Arab origin, due to the recent escalation in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The prohibition was lifted, however, after members of the DNI indicated that the murder could have been the result of a possible robbery attempt.
Mr. Cohen was shot in the abdomen in the presence of his wife and two daughters by a man who escaped on a motorcycle. He was pronounced dead at the Clinica Abreu just minutes later. The DNI began what it called an exhaustive investigation into the murder, in order to determine if the motive was a simple robbery or part of an act of political terrorism.
As a result of investigations, on 29 September, the Police had already arrested Roberto Montero Almánzar, a 23 year old with a long criminal history whom they alleged was Mr Cohen’s killer. He had only recently been freed from the La Victoria jail. The Chief of the Police, Major General Camilo Antonio Nazir Tejada, told the press that the assailant’s original intention was to steal the chain that Mrs. Cohen was wearing.