The person who took 4 hostages at a synagogue in Texas on Saturday is a 44 year-old British citizen, the FBI mentioned Sunday.
In an announcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation recognized the person as Malik Faisal Akram. Mr. Akram died late Saturday after a standoff that lasted greater than 10 hours within the Dallas suburb of Colleyville. Officers didn’t say how he died.
An elite FBI rescue staff that flew in from Quantico, Va., stormed the synagogue and freed three of the hostages, authorities mentioned. One hostage was launched earlier, and none have been harmed.
A law-enforcement official with information of the state of affairs mentioned Mr. Akram is believed to have flown from Britain to the U.S. in current days. The official mentioned investigators imagine Mr. Akram used a handgun within the standoff, and they’re working to determine how and the place he bought it.
A Fb publish from Mr. Akram’s brother mentioned the hostage taker was affected by mental-health points. Within the publish, Mr. Akram’s brother mentioned his household had been following the Texas standoff from England and have been involved with the FBI and negotiators through the incident. The brother mentioned his household by no means believed Mr. Akram would hurt the hostages. He wrote his household was devastated by the state of affairs and apologized to these taken hostage.
“There was nothing we may have mentioned to him or completed that may have satisfied him to give up,” the brother mentioned within the publish.
He claimed Mr. Akram was shot and killed throughout a firefight.
The publish, which was shared by the Muslim neighborhood in Blackburn, England, was confirmed to be genuine by a British authorities official.
FBI brokers are persevering with to sift via proof on the synagogue.
Matt DeSarno, particular agent in cost for the FBI’s Dallas Subject Workplace, mentioned within the assertion from the bureau that there is no such thing as a proof that some other people are concerned. He additionally mentioned the FBI’S North Texas Joint Terrorism Job Drive is concerned within the investigation.
The U.Okay. International, Commonwealth and Improvement Workplace mentioned it was conscious of the demise of a British man in Texas and is involved with the native authorities.
Police in England mentioned on Twitter Sunday that two youngsters were arrested in connection with the hostage incident. Larger Manchester Police tweeted that the youngsters stay in custody for questioning, however didn’t say whether or not they confronted any costs.
Colleyville is a metropolis with a inhabitants of round 30,000 within the Dallas-Fort Value metropolitan space. Congregation Beth Israel, the synagogue the place the standoff occurred, is a Reform Jewish congregation and was based in 1999, in keeping with its web site.
In an announcement, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, who was one of many hostages, mentioned he and his congregation had attended a number of safety programs over time, which he mentioned helped him survive the state of affairs.
“Within the final hour of our hostage disaster, the gunman grew to become more and more belligerent and threatening,” he mentioned. “With out the instruction we acquired, we’d not have been ready to behave and flee when the state of affairs offered itself.”
Mr. DeSarno mentioned Saturday that Mr. Akram “was singularly targeted on one situation, and it wasn’t particularly associated to the Jewish neighborhood.”
Mr. Akram claimed to regulation enforcement that he was the brother of a Pakistani lady convicted in 2010 of attempting to kill U.S. Military troopers, in keeping with one other law-enforcement official with information of the case. Mr. Akram demanded that the lady, Aafia Siddiqui, be launched from jail, the official mentioned.
Ms. Siddiqui is serving an 86-year sentence in a Fort Value federal jail for the tried killing of FBI brokers and troopers at an Afghan police compound in 2008.
Marwa Elbially, an lawyer for Ms. Siddiqui, mentioned the hostage taker wasn’t Ms. Siddiqui’s brother or associated to her, and condemned his actions.
President Biden on Sunday known as the synagogue standoff an “act of terror” and mentioned he informed the lawyer common, “I needed to be sure that we bought the phrase out [to] synagogues and different locations of worship that we’re not going to tolerate this.”
—Max Colchester in London contributed to this text.
Write to Dan Frosch at dan.frosch@wsj.com
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