 Azaria was initially treated as a murder suspect, but on 31 March prosecutors told a court they were looking into manslaughter charges.The initial investigation found that the shooting occurred three minutes after IDF soldiers shot and neutralized the knife-wielding assailants and pathologists ruled that his shot was responsible for the assailant's death and not his previous wounds.An IDF investigation whose details were revealed on March 27 stated that the Azaria had said the assailant "needs to die" before killing him.