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The company mentioned the FBI hostage rescue workforce killed Akram after releasing the hostages at round 9 p.m. native time. Crime scene investigators on the Beth Israel congregation in Collieville, Texas — about 15 miles from Fort Worth — recovered a firearm they consider was a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Akram informed CNN.
“Prayers answered. All hostages are alive and well,” Governor Greg Abbott tweeted about 20 minutes after a loud bang and gunshots have been heard within the path of the synagogue.
Collieville Police Chief Michael Miller mentioned the decision happened 11 hours after Akram entered the synagogue because it livestreamed its Sabbath morning service on Facebook and Zoom at round 11 a.m. Saturday. The livestream seemed to be capturing parts of the incident earlier than it was eliminated.
Four individuals have been initially taken hostage, together with Rabbi Charlie Citron-Walker. One hostage, one man, a Colville police sergeant, was launched bare round 5 p.m. Dara Nelson mentioned.
Citron-Walker mentioned the gunman turned “increasingly belligerent and threatening” within the remaining hours of the hostage disaster.
In a press release to CNN, Citron-Walker described the ordeal as a “traumatic experience”. He mentioned that he and the opposite hostages are nonetheless alive right this moment as a result of his congregation has taken a number of security programs over time.
“Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation unfolded,” Citroen-Walker mentioned. “I encourage all Jewish congregations, religious groups, schools, and others to participate in active-shooter and safety courses.”
President Joe Biden informed reporters on Sunday that “there just aren’t enough facts” to invest as to why a person focused the Collyville, Texas synagogue, took 4 hostages on Saturday, calling the standoff an “act of terror.” mentioned.
“I don’t– we don’t have. I don’t think there’s enough information to know why he targeted that synagogue, why he insisted on the release of someone who’s been in prison for more than 10 years, Why was that why he was using anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli comments, Biden told reporters.
A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN that Akram landed at New York’s JFK airport about five weeks ago and arrived in the United States.
He arrived legally in December, a different federal law enforcement source told CNN. Therefore, Akram approved the revision before his arrival, which would have been checked against classified and unclassified information available at the time.
The law enforcement source said Akram was not on the US government’s watch list.
According to the official, a review so far of the US intelligence community’s database of terrorism-related threat information has shown no prior abusive information about Akram.
The source said British intelligence officials have advised their US counterparts that a preliminary review of their database similarly did not contain any derogatory information about Akram. UK officials are busy scrutinizing their systems.
The UK Counter Terrorism Police for Greater Manchester on Sunday announced the custody of two teenagers in connection with the hostage incident. Both men, who were arrested in south Manchester, are still in custody for questioning.
Officials are still trying to figure out how Akram traveled to Texas.
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Suspect spent days at homeless shelter
According to the shelter’s CEO Bruce Butler, Akram spent three nights at Union Gospel Mission Dallas, a homeless shelter, a week before the incident.
“We have been a one-way station for him. He had a plan. He was very calm. He was out and in,” Butler told CNN in a phone call on Sunday.
Butler said Akram initially checked-in at the shelter on January 6 before checking out and checking back several times over the course of a week.
According to Butler, he last left the facility on January 13, a little more than 48 hours before four people were taken hostage inside the synagogue about 22 miles away.
Butler could not gather much information about Akram’s personality and said that nothing is clear or disclosed about Akram’s personal religious beliefs.
“Our engagement with this subject leads us to consider it centered on one situation alone, and didn’t pertain particularly to the Jewish neighborhood, however we are going to proceed to work to seek out the motive,” Descarno said.
Akram also told hostage negotiators that he was not going to leave the synagogue alive, a US law enforcement source familiar with the investigation told CNN.
The source said that during the talks with the interlocutors, Akram demanded that Siddiqui be brought to the synagogue so that both of them could die together.
Akram was heard saying in the livestream, “All I want is a bullet inside me, and I wish to go- that is it.” Akram reiterated that the sentiment was picked up on the livestream in two telephone conversations.
He told a man, “I’ve been shot. I’m armed with gunpowder. Think what, I’ll die.” He later told another person who had called him, “I’m going to die, so do not cry for me.”
Suspect apparently wanted Siddiqui to be released
Officials said it is believed Akram wanted Siddiqui to be released, based on discussions with the suspect, both in audio and video heard on the synagogue’s livestream.
The lawyer representing Siddiqui said on Saturday that he had “no involvement” in taking the hostages at the synagogue and added that the perpetrator is not Siddiqui’s brother.
“She does not need any violence to be finished towards any human being, particularly in her identify,” Marva Albili told CNN over the phone. “It clearly has nothing to do with Dr. Siddiqui or his household.”
At the request of the hostage taker, the rabbi of the congregation being held hostage is said to be a well-known rabbi in New York City, two officers briefed on the investigation.
The FBI interviewed a New York City-based rabbi who spoke to the first hostage taker on Saturday. Officials said the hostage-taker, who has no ties to the rabbi, told him that Siddiqui had been framed and wanted to release him.
The congregation is affiliated with the Beth Israel Union for Reform Judaism, whose website indicates that the congregation serves 157 membership families.
According to the CBI website, the synagogue, established in 1999 with 25 member families, was the first Jewish congregation in northeastern Tarrant County. The CBI community officially opened its new building in 2005.
CBI conducts Sabbath morning services every Saturday, and members and non-members alike are welcome to watch the livestream from home, a practice many synagogues have adopted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Who is Afia Siddiqui?
In 2010, Siddiqui was sentenced to 86 years in prison by a federal judge in New York after a 14-day trial. A jury found him guilty of attempted murder of American citizens and government employees, as well as assaults against US officials and employees.
Siddiqui – a Pakistani scientist who graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and earned a doctorate from Brandeis University – was detained in 2008 for questioning by the Afghan National Police, who said they had found handwritten notes that were likely The targets refer to “mass casualty assault,” according to a federal indictment.
When a group of Americans attempted to speak to her, prosecutors said she was able to seize an American soldier’s rifle and open fire on the interrogation team, although no one was hit by the bullets.
Upon sentencing, the decide discovered him to retaliate towards the US authorities, citing statements made by him, together with “I hate Americans” and “Death to America”. Demonstrated his actions and intentions.
His sentence has been the topic of standard protests within the US and overseas. Repeated demonstrations have been organized by the Afia Foundation, a bunch bearing his identify. That group has claimed that he was assaulted in jail final 12 months.
His household has mentioned in an interview to CNN that he’s not a terrorist.
During a lethal hostage disaster in Algeria in 2013, a spokesman for a terrorist group, together with Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center assault, supplied to launch the hostages if Siddiqui was launched from a US jail, who died. the jail.
Siddiqui is being held at a medical facility that’s a part of a federal jail in Fort Worth, with the discharge date set for 60 years from now.
CNN’s Simeon Prokupez, Josh Campbell, Evan Perez, Ed Lavandera, Ashley Kilo, Melissa Alonso, Radina Gigova and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report.
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