- US President Joe Biden has condemned the hostage-taking in a synagogue in the US state of Texas as an act of terrorism.
- The Democrat praised the police’s action, in which all hostages were released unharmed.
- A man took several hostages in a synagogue in the city of Colleyville near Dallas on Saturday.
“It was an act of terrorism,” Biden said Sunday on the sidelines of an appointment in Philadelphia. The police have “done a great job,” said the US President.
After hours of negotiations with the kidnapper, special forces entered the building in the evening (local time) and freed the four hostages. These remained unharmed. The armed kidnapper was found dead. How exactly he died was left open by the police. The authorities are also officially covered about the background.
The police announced the identity of the hostage-taker on Sunday: it was a 44-year-old British citizen. There is currently no evidence that anyone else was involved.
According to initial findings, the perpetrator bought weapons after arriving in the country and spent his first night in a shelter for the homeless, Joe Biden said on Sunday. He and Vice President Kamala Harris called on the population to fight anti-Semitism and hatred.
The perpetrator’s brother got in touch
US media reported, citing investigators, that the kidnappers wanted to free a Pakistani scientist imprisoned in Texas, who was convicted in 2010 of attempting to murder US soldiers in Afghanistan.
In Great Britain, a brother of the hostage-taker spoke up. The family is distancing itself from the crime and apologizes to those affected, the brother wrote on the Facebook page of the Muslim community in the northern English city of Blackburn. The kidnapper was mentally ill.