New details have emerged after four people held hostage Saturday at a synagogue outside Dallas were released and are now safe.
The name of the hostage-taker was released on Sunday. The man had entered Congregation Beth Israel in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville and held the group hostage before he was shot and killed after a 10-hour standoff with police.
British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, 44, was demanding through the synagogue’s morning service live stream that Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, be released from an 86-year prison sentence for attempting to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.
A hostage rescue team successfully freed three of the hostages around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night after FBI special agents entered the building, and killed Akram. One of the hostages was released separately at about 5 p.m.
During the livestream that has now been taken down, Akram specifically asked to get his sister on the phone and spoke about how he was going to die. Akram was quoted as saying, “You get my sister on the phone" and "I am gonna die," along with, “there’s something wrong with America,” according to BBC News.
Victoria Francis, a woman who watched the livestream, told Associated Press that Akram was ranting against America and claiming to have a bomb.
“He was just all over the map. He was pretty irritated and the more irritated he got, he’d make more threats, like ‘I’m the guy with the bomb. If you make a mistake, this is all on you.’ And he’d laugh at that,” Francis said.
“He was clearly in extreme distress.”
FBI Special Agent Matt DeSarno said a team is investigating the incident but does not think that the situation was directly associated with the Jewish community. The FBI also believes Akram did not have any broader plan outside the hostage event.
The lead rabbi at the synagogue, Charlie Cytron-Walker, spoke Sunday morning in a Facebook post. He said he was grateful to be alive and thankful for those who helped save the group.
“I am thankful and filled with appreciation for all of the vigils and prayers and love and support, all of the law enforcement and first responders who cared for us, all of the security training that helped save us,” Cryron-Walker said.
“I am grateful that we made it out. I am grateful to be alive."
