A law enforcement officer walks past an intersection near the Beth Israel synagogue on January 15, 2022 in Colleyville, Texas.
Brandon Bells | beautiful pictures
All the hostages were safely freed from a Dallas-Fort Worth synagogue after more than 10 hours of standstill, and the man responsible has died, according to federal and local law enforcement direction.
A group of four people, including rabbis, were taken hostage around 10:41 a.m. Saturday at Beth Israel Church in Colleyville, about 30 miles northwest of Dallas.
The group of hostages is being held by a man demanding the release of a North Texas federal prisoner who was convicted in 2010 of attempted murder in a terrorism-related case, officials said.
One of the hostages was released shortly after 5 p.m. and FBI crisis negotiators continued to communicate with the man in the synagogue Saturday night.
Around 9 p.m., the FBI’s hostage rescue team broke into the synagogue and rescued the hostages, Colleyville Police Chief Michael C. Miller said.
Miller said the suspect, who has not been identified, is dead. Officials did not disclose how the man died.
The hostages, all of whom are adults, were not physically harmed and did not require medical attention, officials said.
“Prayers have been answered. All hostages are alive and well,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a tweet.
SWAT team members deploy near Beth Israel Synagogue Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, about 25 miles (40 km) west of Dallas, on January 15, 2022.
Andy Jacobsohn | AFP | beautiful pictures
Matthew DeSarno, the FBI special agent in charge of Dallas, said the hostage-taker is said to be “focused on one issue and it doesn’t specifically relate to the Jewish community.”
He did not provide further details, but said there was no information indicating an ongoing threat and that a “global” investigation would be conducted.
Three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the situation said the man told authorities he wanted to Released by Aafia Siddiqui from federal prison. They also said the hostage-taker asked the rabbi in Colleyville to call a rabbi in New York City to tell him he was being held hostage and that he wanted a “sister.” His Siddiqui was liberated.
Siddiqui, 49, was convicted by a federal jury in 2010 of attempting to kill American officers in Afghanistan and is currently being held at FMC Carswell, a federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas.
New York Police Department counterterrorism teams were seen Saturday at the synagogue connected to the New York rabbi who received the call.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has advocated for Siddiqui’s release and has declared her innocence, said Siddiqui’s brother was not a synagogue hostage-taker.
John Floyd, chairman of the CAIR Houston board of directors and longtime legal counsel to his brother Siddiqui, said in a statement that his client is not responsible for the situation and is not near Dallas-Fort Worth. and the hostage taker has nothing to do with Siddiqui.
“We want the attacker to know that his actions were evil and directly undermined those of us who are seeking justice for Dr. Aafia,” Floyd said in a statement.
In a statement, CAIR’s Deputy Country Director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, said the group strongly condemns the situation, which he describes as “an unacceptable act of evil.”
It was not clear how many people were in the synagogue when police received the first disturbance call Saturday morning.
During a Facebook live stream of the congregation’s Shabbat morning service, one man could be heard speaking, sometimes cursing, and appearing angry.
The video that has been taken down does not show what is going on inside the building.
Miller, the Colleyville police chief, said officials began receiving reports that a “gunman” had entered the synagogue and taken four hostages. Local authorities responded and evacuated nearby homes.
DeSarno, the FBI special agent in charge, said hostage negotiators had been in lengthy contact with the man and documented their work, as well as that of nearly 200 state law enforcement officers. , federal and local, with solutions.
Law enforcement agencies, including several North Texas police departments, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI’s Dallas field office, and hostage rescue teams The agency’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, was in Colleyville as the situation unfolded.
Miller said Saturday night that the church rabbi is a close friend and that the situation is very personal. He added that he sees hope in how communities come together during the crisis.
Various government officials – including President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland, US Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett – and faith-based groups say they are monitoring the situation and offering hope towards a peaceful resolution.
Late Saturday night, Biden thanked those who worked to bring the four hostages home to their families.
“There’s much more that we’ll learn in the coming days about the hostage-taker’s motives,” Biden said. “But let me be clear to anyone who intends to sow hate — we will fight anti-Semitism and the rise of extremism in this country. That’s you. us, and tonight, the men and women of law enforcement who made us all proud.”
The Congregation of Beth Israel, affiliated with the Reformation movement of Judaism, began in 1998 as a chavurah or a small group of Jews gathered for prayer services, according to it website. The group officially established a synagogue in Colleyville in July 1999, and began operations at its current location in 2005.
