| See Day 2 report here. Day 1 reports here and here. Also discussed yesterday here and here. |
- FBI identifies Texas synagogue shooter as 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, who is originally from Blackburn
Blackburn is only 30 km from Manchester, which too often appears for interesting reasons in our archives.
- His brother, Gulbar, liaised with suspect in FBI incident room, blamed mental health issues for Faisal's auctions
- Sibling also revealed Malik Akram had a criminal record and asked how he was able to enter the United States
- Two teenagers from south Manchester have been arrested in connection with incident and were quizzed last night
- US President Joe Biden condemned Akram's actions as an 'act of terror' during a PR event in Philadelphia
- All four hostages have been released after the terrorist was shot and police stormed the Texas synagogue
- Gunshots were heard at around 9pm CST (3am GMT) after a hostage was released and SWAT team stormed in
- Dramatic footage captured the moment two of three remaining hostages ran out of the temple, with the gun totting terrorist right behind them before he quickly retreated inside after seeing the nearby SWAT team
- A SWAT team had been deployed and the FBI was negotiating with him as the standoff entered hour eleven
- Akram had demanded the release of 'Lady Al Qaeda' Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving 86 years at FMC Carswell, New York for the attempted murder of US military personnel, according to an ABC News report
President Biden said: 'I don't think
| ...he could stop there and have told the absolute truth, poor man... |
Biden later added that it is understood that Akram purchased the weapons used during the stand-off 'on the street' and spent his first night in the US 'in a homeless shelter'.
'He purchased them when he landed and it turns out there apparently were no bombs that we know of.
'He apparently spent the first night in a homeless shelter — I don't have all the details, so I'm reluctant to go into much more detail, but allegedly he purchased it on the street. What that means, I don't know if he purchased it from an individual in the homeless shelter or a homeless community.'
Asked if the incident meant a new push to restrict firearm access, Biden said: 'The idea of background checks are critical, but you can't stop something like this if someone is on the street buying something from somebody else on the street.'
He indicated he would have more to say at his upcoming Wednesday press conference.
Texas rabbi: Hostages managed to escape as gunman became ‘increasingly belligerent’
[IsraelTimes] Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, among four people held hostage at his Congregation Beth Israel, said Sunday that the attacker grew "increasingly belligerent and threatening" toward the end of the 11-hour standoff, and revealed that the captives had escaped, crediting security courses he had taken for helping them flee.
Authorities identified the hostage-taker as a 44-year-old British national, Malik Faisal Akram, who was killed Saturday night after the last hostages ran out of the synagogue around 9 p.m and an FBI
...Formerly one of the world's premier criminal investigation organizations, something for a nation to be proud of. Now it's a political arm of the Deep State oligarchy that is willing to trump up charges, suppress evidence, or take out insurance policies come election time...SWAT team rushed into the building, apparently shooting him dead.
"Over the years, my congregation and I have participated in multiple security courses from the Colleyville Police Department, the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League, and Secure Community Network," Cytron-Walker said in a statement late Sunday.
"We are alive today because of that education. I encourage all Jewish congregations, religious groups, schools, and others to participate in active-shooter and security courses," he said.
"In the last hour of our hostage crisis, the gunman became increasingly belligerent and threatening," Cytron-Walker added. "Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself."
Asked to clarify whether the suspects escaped or were freed by the gunman, as indicated by other officials and the attacker’s family, a spokeswoman for Cytron-Walker told The Times of Israel, "They escaped."
| Update at 12:45 a.m. ET: Heard on the local 11:00 pm news: The two teens arrested in Manchester are Mr. Akram’s sons. Separately, Mr. Akram is unsurprisingly starting to be described as a Pakistani-Brit. As for me, I wonder why a mentally unbalanced petty criminal who landed in New York City would go all the way to the wilds of Texas to attack a minor synagogue noted for its work with Moslems, alternative lifestyles, and other “good works”. |
Related:
Manchester: 2022-01-01 Arrests made in shooting death of Illinois police sergeant
Manchester: 2021-12-31 Man killed in UK taxi blast was blown up by his own bomb, investigators say
Manchester: 2021-12-30 92 terrorists could be released from jail in the next year: Pressure mounts on parole board to keep fiends behind bars as they reach half-way point in sentences
Manchester: 2022-01-01 Arrests made in shooting death of Illinois police sergeant
Manchester: 2021-12-31 Man killed in UK taxi blast was blown up by his own bomb, investigators say
Manchester: 2021-12-30 92 terrorists could be released from jail in the next year: Pressure mounts on parole board to keep fiends behind bars as they reach half-way point in sentences