Al-Rashidi, 42, a camera operator for the private satellite channel Al-Mosuliya, left a relative's house in Mosul's eastern Al-Jazair neighborhood in the evening to catch a taxi when gunmen in a car opened fire, a source at the station told CPJ. The source said that after al-Rashidi fell to the ground, one of the gunmen got out of the car and shot him at close range.
The source, who asked not to be identified, believed that al-Rashidi was targeted because he was a journalist. Al-Rashidi was a well-known camera operator in Mosul, a place where armed groups have frequently targeted journalists. Al-Rashidi did not report receiving death threats prior to the shooting, the source told CPJ.
Before joining Al-Mosuliya, al-Rashidi worked for the state-run Al-Iraqiya channel, according to the source at the station. Al-Mosuliya was established about a year earlier to cover news in Nineveh province.