Chris Lange, FISM News
Two teens were arrested in England late Sunday in connection to Saturday’s hostage incident at a Texas synagogue.
The alleged suspect in the attack was identified as British national Malik Faisal Akram, a Muslim, who was killed following a lengthy standoff with police at the Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, about 27 miles northwest of Dallas. Information as to the names and ages of the teenagers, who were arrested in south Manchester Sunday evening, have not yet been released and it is not clear what their connection is to the incident. The pair “remain in custody for questioning,” according to a statement from the Greater Manchester Police.
The BBC reports that 44-year-old Akram flew from the U.K. to New York’s JFK airport two weeks prior to the synagogue attack. Around 10:00 a.m. Saturday, during a livestream Shabbat service, Akram gained entry to the Beth Israel Synagogue and proceeded to hold four people hostage at gunpoint in a tense standoff that lasted roughly 10 hours. Colleyville police officers were dispatched to the scene at 10:41 a.m. where they were joined by a team of hostage negotiators and S.W.A.T. team members.
Witnesses who were watching the service on Meta described hearing a man with a British accent ranting about America and claiming to have a bomb. The man, later identified as Akram, could also be overheard demanding the release of Al Qaeda-linked terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving an 86-year sentence for attempting to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2010. The synagogue is located near the Fort Worth prison where Siddiqui, frequently referred to as “Lady Al Qaeda,” is being held.
One of the hostages was released around 5:00 p.m. as hostage negotiators on the scene remained in contact with Akram in an effort to defuse the situation. Shortly after 9:00 p.m., the remaining three hostages managed to escape, followed by sounds resembling “gunfire,” according to nearby witnesses. The FBI announced that the suspect had been killed at 9:55 a.m., though the manner of his death was not disclosed.
One of the hostage victims, Rabbi Charlie Cytron Walker, described Akram as becoming “increasingly belligerent and threatening” in the last hour of the ordeal.
In a written statement, the rabbi credited security training he and members of his suburban Fort Worth congregation received in the past as being key in his and his fellow hostages’ ability “to act and flee when the situation presented itself.” According to a Reuters report, Walker said Akram knocked on the door of the synagogue during prayers and was invited inside and offered tea. Walker said he resumed praying when he heard a “click” that turned out to be coming from Akram’s gun.
Toward the end of the harrowing ordeal, Walker said he signaled to the other two remaining hostages that he was going to take action. “I told them to go. I threw a chair at the gunman, and I headed for the door, and all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired,” he said.
Following the incident, the FBI faced intense backlash for initially stating that the suspect did not specifically target the Jewish community. The agency has since issued a statement calling the incident a “terrorism-related matter in which the Jewish community was targeted.” The matter remains under investigation by the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
The @FBI spins the story to avoid saying that the #ColleyvilleSynagogue attack was Antisemitic, though everyone with a working brain knows that it was.
The @AP then dutifully reports the news, so that people can sleep better by ignoring the fact that Islamic terrorism is here. https://t.co/llhU9ChDgg
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) January 16, 2022
The FBI’s declaration that a man taking Jews hostage in a Jewish place of worship on the Jewish day of rest while trying to free an anti-Semitic terrorist had nothing to do with Jews is both insane and demonstrative of the federal government’s attitude to Islamic anti-Semitism.
— Ian Haworth (@ighaworth) January 16, 2022