JERUSALEM (JTA) — The man police say was responsible for shooting a Temple Mount activist was killed at his eastern Jerusalem home during a shoot out with police.

Police surrounded the eastern Jerusalem home of the suspect, identified as Muataz Hijazi, an operative for the terror group Islamic Jihad, spent 10 years in Israeli prison for past involvement in terror activities and was released in 2012.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for recent conditions in Jerusalem.

Glick, who is also an American citizen, was shot three times Wednesday night in the chest and stomach by an unidentified assailant on a motorcycle who fled the scene. He remains in serious condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, where he underwent surgery following the attack. Professor Jonathan Halevy, director-general of Shaare Zedek, said Thursday that Glick’s life is still in danger.

Glick heads the Temple Mount Faithful organization, which advocates building a Third Temple on the holy site. Before the shooting, he spoke at a conference at the center dealing with Jewish rights at the Temple Mount. He reportedly had received several threats on his life in recent weeks.

Hijazi was employed in the restaurant located inside the Begin Center and reportedly checked what time Glick would be finished speaking.

Israeli security forces are investigating whether Hijazi shot Israeli soldier Chen Schwartz in Jerusalem near Mount Scopus in July, in an attack that took place on the same day as a tractor attack took place on the border between eastern and western Jerusalem. Hijazi worked then at a restaurant near the site of the attack.

Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin, who also spoke at Wednesday night’s conference, discussed the attack in a Facebook post.

Glick, Feiglin said, “walked outside to his car. There was a motorcyclist with his helmet on standing there. He turned to Yehuda in a thick Arabic accent and said, ‘Yehuda, I am angry at you,’ and then shot him three times point blank.”

According to Ynet, Hijazi said upon his release from prison: “I’m glad to be back in Jerusalem. I hope to be a thorn in the Zionist plan of Judaizing Jerusalem.”