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by Shelby Tauber and Daphne Psaledakis
COLLEYVILLE, Texas, Jan 16 (Reuters) – A hostage crisis at a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, where four people were held by a gunman on Saturday, ended after the FBI intervened.
All hostages were released on Saturday evening and are safe and sound. The madman is dead, Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller said at a press conference.
The man had held four people, including the rabbi, in the synagogue of the Congregation of Beth Israel in Colleyville, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, in the State of Texas. One of the hostages had been released in the afternoon.
Reporters at the scene said they heard sounds of explosions, possibly stun grenades, and gunfire shortly before Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced an end to the hostage situation. .
“Our prayers have been heard. All hostages are alive and safe,” Greg Abbott wrote on Twitter.
The FBI identified the madman but said they would not immediately reveal his identity. The agency declined to confirm the cause of his death, saying an investigation was ongoing.
The police said they intervened after receiving calls while the religious service was broadcast live on Facebook.
FBI negotiators had quickly established contact with the madman, who asked to speak with a woman held in federal prison.
Before the broadcast of the service was cut, the man could be heard fuming and talking about religion and his sister, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram newspaper reported.
The man repeated that he did not wish to harm anyone and that he believed he was going to die, the newspaper added.
US President Joe Biden has been briefed on the situation and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Twitter praying for the safety of the hostages.
A US representative familiar with the matter told ABC News that the hostage taker claimed to be the brother of Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, who was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 for shooting US soldiers and government agents. FBI, and that he demanded his release.
Aafia Siddiqui is being held in federal prison near Fort Worth. His lawyer, Marwa Elbially, told CNN the man was not Aafia Siddiqui’s brother. He called for the release of the hostages, adding that Aafia Siddiqui’s family condemned his “hateful” acts.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group, condemned the hostage taking: “This anti-Semitic attack on American Jews gathering in a synagogue is an abject act.” (With Aram Roston, Jonathan Allen, Valerie Volcovici and Andrea Shalal; French version Camille Raynaud)