Tristan Anderson was struck in the head by a high velocity tear-gas projectile shot directly at him by Israeli Border Police officers during a demonstration in the village of Ni'ilin on March 13th, 2009. Anderson was critically injured and suffered irreversable brain damage.

The police opened an investigation into his shooting, but decided to close the case with out filing an indictment.The decision to close the case was taken by the Israeli Advocate General despite the fact that the investigating team had not even bothered to visit the scene of the shooting.

On the day of Tristan’s injury, there were several police squads in Nili’in – one stationed at a position known as “Antenna Hill” and another positioned closer to the village center. Since the squad stationed at Antenna Hill reported injuring a person, this squad was questioned regarding Tristan Anderson. However, it is now clear that there was more than one injury on March 13, 2009 – with one such injury having been reported by the squad stationed on Antenna Hill. These police officers report having hit a person in a completely different location and with an entirely different description than that of Tristan. For example, the police officers reported hitting a stone thrower whose face was covered, whereas several eyewitnesses attest to the fact that Tristan’s face was not covered at all on that day and that he did not throw stones. Furthermore, eyewitnesses to Tristan’s injury report that the tear gas canister came from a different direction than Antenna Hill, the same area in which the second squad was stationed. It is clear that these mistakes stem from the fact that investigators never visited the scene of the incident.