Counterterrorism specialists in Great Britain are working with their counterparts at the FBI in a search for clues about the man who held four people hostage at a North Texas synagogue on Saturday.
The initial indication is that British national Malik Faisal Akram was shot and killed by the Hostage Rescue Team after it made what the FBI called the “deliberate decision” to breach the synagogue Saturday night to bring the 10-hour standoff to an end, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.
After-action forensics will determine with certainty who fired the fatal shot and under what circumstances. The standoff began as Shabbat services were being livestreamed from Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, just west of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. An angry man is heard shouting, cursing and occasionally apologizing after he takes his hostages. It ended 11 hours later when the final three captives escaped and the suspect was killed by gunfire.
President Joe Biden weighed in on the standoff on Sunday while volunteering at a hunger relief organization in Philadelphia, calling it an “act of terror.”
Biden said he told Attorney General Merrick Garland to “make sure we got the word out” to synagogues and places of worship that the administration is “not going to-tolerate this.”
Biden said that “the idea of background checks is critical” and that the amount of guns sold on the street lately is “just ridiculous,” even placing the blame on Washington for failing to act on gun control. But moving forward on gun control, or any of the administration’s legislative priorities, has proved difficult for the president
Source-ABC
