Texas rabbi held hostage in synagogue for 11 hours ‘grateful to be alive’
The Texas rabbi held hostage in his synagogue along with three others for more than 11 hours thanked those who got him out alive, crediting their clear instructions for helping to save their lives.
“In the last hour of our hostage crisis, the gunman became increasingly belligerent and threatening,” Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker told The Associated Press. “Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself.”
Cytron-Walker was one of four people trapped Saturday inside Colleyville’s Congregation Beth-Israel while a gunman ― identified as 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram — held them hostage and demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a 49-year-old Pakistani woman serving an 86-year sentence at Fort Worth prison.
This is the man who held four people hostage inside a Texas synagogue
“I am thankful and filled with appreciation for all of the vigils and prayers and love and support, all of the law enforcement and first responders who cared for us, all of the security training that helped save us,” Cytron-Walker wrote on Facebook Sunday.
“I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for the CBI Community, the Jewish Community, the Human Community. I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive.”
Late on Sunday, police in Manchester, England, announced that counter-terrorism officers had arrested two teenagers in connection with Saturday’s standoff.
Texas hostage-taker dead, hostages freed after all-day standoff
The hostage situation, captured on the synagogue’s live stream, began just before 11 a.m. Saturday during services.
At some point, Akram reached out via phone to Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, of Central Synagogue in Manhattan, who then called 911.
“Our hearts go out to those who have been impacted by the traumatic situation at the Beth Israel Synagogue,” Central Synagogue’s director of marketing and communications, Nick Obourn, told the Daily News Sunday.
The first hostage, a man in a black yarmulke, was released around 5 p.m. A loud bang was heard around 9 p.m. and the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team breached the building. The three other hostages were rescued alive.
Akram was killed.
Matthew DeSarno, FBI Dallas special agent in charge, said at a press conference late Saturday that the gunman was “singularly focused on one issue and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community.”
Akram’s family said he was “suffering from mental health issues,” adding they “apologize wholeheartedly” and then 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.
On the livestream, which cut out around 2 p.m., the man could be heard referring to Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani scientist, as his “sister,” but John Floyd, Siddiqui’s legal counsel, said her brother, Mohammad Siddiqui, was not involved. Siddiqui has been in prison for shooting at two FBI special agents, a U.S. Army warrant officer, an Army captain and military interpreters in 2008.
“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 that Akram has “no connection with the family whatsoever” and “he has also no connection to the Free Aafia movement inside the US.”
A spokesperson for the U.K.’s Foreign Office told The News they were “aware of the death of a British man in Texas and are in contact with the local authorities.”
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss publicly condemned “the appalling act,” calling it terrorism and antisemitism and said she stands with the United States “in defending the rights and freedoms of our citizens against those who spread hate.”
“There is more we will learn in the days ahead about the motivations of the hostage taker,” President Biden said in a statement after the hostages were freed. “But let me be clear to anyone who intends to spread hate — we will stand against antisemitism and against the rise of extremism in this country. That is who we are, and tonight, the men and women of law enforcement made us all proud.”
With News Wire Services
