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The FBI has named 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, who took four people hostage in the U.S. state of Texas for 10 hours.
U.S. authorities have identified a 44-year-old British citizen as the man who took four people kidnap In a Texas synagogue 10 hours before an FBI SWAT group attacked the building, President Joe Biden called it “an act of terror” to end a tense situation.
The FBI has identified the man as Malik Faisal Akram, 44, who was killed Saturday night after his four hostages were safely released.
In a statement, the FBI said no one was involved. He gave no possible motive for the attack.
FBI and police spokesmen declined to comment on who shot Akram on Saturday night after his stay at the Beth Israel congregation near Fort Worth ended.
Akram could be heard live on Facebook and demanded the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.
A video from Dallas’s WFAA television showed him running out of a synagogue door and then a man with a gun in his hand opened the same door for a few seconds before turning around and closing. Moments later, several shots were heard, followed by the sound of explosions.
The incident in Colleyville, Texas, “was an act of terror,” said Biden, who paid tribute to the late civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., who died with Philadelphia’s first wife, Jill Biden.
“Supposedly – I don’t have all the details, not even the chief prosecutor – but he said he allegedly took the weapons out into the street,” Biden said.
“He bought them when he landed and apparently there were no bombs we know … Apparently he spent the first night in a homeless shelter. I don’t have all the details yet, so I’m reluctant to go into much more detail,” the president said.
Matt DeSarno, a special FBI agent, said the hostage was focused on an issue not directly related to the Jewish community, and there was no immediate indication that the man was part of a larger plan. But DeSarno said the agency’s investigation “will reach a global reach.”
It was not clear why he chose the Akram Synagogue.
Police were called to the synagogue around 11 a.m. and people were evacuated from the surrounding neighborhood shortly after, FBI Dallas spokeswoman Katie Chaumont said.
An FBI hostage was attacked by a rescue team at the synagogue on Saturday night, and the gunman ended a 10-hour clash with police, disrupted Saturday’s service and kidnapped the rabbi and three other people.
One of the hostages was released after being held for six hours and the other three were later released by the FBI.
On Sunday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss condemned the hostage-taking in the synagogue as an “act of terrorism and anti-Semitism”.
“We stand by the United States to defend the rights and freedoms of our citizens against those who spread hatred,” Truss wrote on Twitter.
The situation of the hostages in Texas seemed to be an isolated event, but synagogues in New York and other parts of the country responded to increased security.
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