This is the man who held four people hostage inside a Texas synagogue
The man who held four people, including a rabbi, hostage inside a Texas synagogue Saturday has been identified as a British national.
The suspect is 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, Matthew DeSarno, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Field Office, announced Sunday.
Officials said there is no indication that anyone else was involved.
Akram was killed late Saturday when agents cleared Congregation Beth-Israel in Colleyville, rescuing the hostages alive.
A spokesperson for the U.K.’s Foreign Office told the Daily News Sunday that they are “aware” of the death of a British man.
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On a livestream from inside the synagogue, Akram could be heard calling for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a 49-year-old Pakistani woman serving an 86-year sentence at Fort Worth prison for shooting at two FBI special agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, an Army captain and military interpreters in 2008.
Akram referred to Siddiqui as his “sister,” but John Floyd, Siddiqui’s legal counsel, said her brother, Mohammad Siddiqui, was not involved.
“This assailant has nothing to do with Dr. Aafia, her family, or the global campaign to get justice for Dr. Aafia. We want the assailant to know that his actions are wicked and directly undermine those of us who are seeking justice for Dr. Aafia,” Floyd said in a statement. “We have confirmed that the family member being wrongly accused of this heinous act is not near the DFW Metro area.”
Floyd confirmed to The News Sunday that Akram has “no connection with the family whatsoever” and “he has also no connection to the Free Aafia movement inside the US.”
Akram’s family said Sunday that he was “suffering from mental health issues,” but said they “apologize wholeheartedly” and condemned his actions.
“There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender,” they said in a statement through the Blackburn Muslim Community.
Among those taken hostage Saturday was Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker.
