The author of the hostage-taking in a synagogue in Colleyville (Texas) has been identified by the FBI as being a 44-year-old Briton named Malik Faisal Akram. He died after police intervention.
The head of British diplomacy, Liz Truss, condemned this Sunday an “act of terrorism and anti-Semitism”. “My thoughts are with the Jewish community and all those affected by this appalling act in Texas,” she wrote on Twitter.
British Ambassador to the United States Karen Pierce said on the same social network that the British authorities gave “full support to Texas and American law enforcement”.
Four hostages safe and sound
On Saturday, Malik Faisal Akram had held four people hostage, including a rabbi, in the synagogue of the Beth Israel Congregation in Colleyville, a town of about 23,000 inhabitants about 40 km from Dallas. All hostages have been released, safe and sound.
The hostage taker died after the police intervention, during which a loud bang and gunshots were heard.
“At this stage, there is no indication of the involvement of anyone else,” US federal police said in a statement, adding only that investigators were continuing to “analyze the evidence at the synagogue” and that the investigations were continuing.
The FBI also said it had no evidence at this stage that the hostage taker wanted to specifically threaten the Jewish community.
According to several American media, the suspect had asked for the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist sentenced in 2010 by a federal court in New York to 86 years in prison for having tried to shoot American soldiers while she was detained in Afghanistan.
US President Joe Biden seemed to confirm this information by explaining that the hostage taking, described as an “act of terrorism”, was “related to someone” who “has been in prison for ten years”.