‘Our security training helped us escape from the gunman’
“Over the years, my congregation and I have participated in multiple security courses... We are alive today because of that education."
RABBI Charlie Cytron-Walker, among four people held hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, said Sunday that the attacker grew “increasingly belligerent and threatening” toward the end of the 11-hour standoff, and revealed that the captives had escaped, crediting security courses he had taken for helping them flee.
Authorities identified the hostage-taker as a 44-year-old British national, Malik Faisal Akram, who was killed Saturday night after the last hostages ran out of the synagogue around 9pm and an FBI SWAT team rushed into the building, apparently shooting him dead.
“Over the years, my congregation and I have participated in multiple security courses from the Colleyville Police Department, the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League, and Secure Community Network,” Cytron-Walker said in a statement late Sunday.
“We are alive today because of that education. I encourage all Jewish congregations, religious groups, schools, and others to participate in active-shooter and security courses,” he said.
“In the last hour of our hostage crisis, the gunman became increasingly belligerent and threatening,” Cytron-Walker added. “Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself.”
Asked to clarify whether the suspects escaped or were freed by the gunman, as indicated by other officials and the attacker’s family, a spokeswoman for Cytron-Walker told The Times of Israel, “They escaped.”
“I am not at liberty to discuss more because there is an active investigation,” the spokeswoman added.
Reached outside his home Sunday, Cytron-Walker declined to speak at length about the episode. “It’s a little overwhelming as you can imagine. It was not fun yesterday,” he told the AP.
Congregation president Michael Finfer, who was not among the hostages, appeared to suggest that Akram had not deliberately targeted the synagogue, calling the attack “random”.
“We know that a situation of this magnitude could increase the concern many of us live with on a day-to-day basis due to antisemitism,” Finfer said. “It is important to note that this was a random act of violence.
Indeed, there was a one in a million chance that the gunman picked our congregation. Further, the FBI is confirming that the attacker appeared to be working alone.”
His comments are at odds with most officials who described the incident as a deliberate antisemitic terror attack.
US President Joe Biden on Sunday called the weekend hostage crisis an “act of terror,” as did Britain’s Foreign Minister Liz Truss, who condemned the hostage-taking as an “act of terrorism and antisemitism”.
The attacker’s brother Gulbar issued a statement on the family’s behalf that was posted on the UK’s Blackburn Muslim Community Facebook page, in which he condemned Akram’s actions and apologised to those impacted by them.
“We would like to say that we as a family do not condone any of his actions and would like to sincerely apologize wholeheartedly to all the victims involved in the unfortunate incident,” he wrote.
Gulbar revealed that they had been in touch with Akram throughout the Saturday hostage crisis via FBI negotiators, and that while his brother “was suffering from mental health issues, we were confident that he would not harm the hostages”.
The statement also revealed that Akram was shot in a firefight with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team at the scene. US authorities have withheld information on how the attacker died until now.
“There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender,” Akram’s brother said.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke with Cytron-Walker and Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
“I was so relieved to hear that you and the other hostages are safe and sound. Your leadership in this time of crisis was admirable. Israel stands united with the Jewish community in Colleyville,” he said.
“I was praying here for your safety together with the rest of Israel and we are so relieved that you’re ok. Please send strength to your congregation. We are brothers.”
In the call with Abbott, Bennett thanked him for the “determined and professional action of law enforcement forces,” who managed to deescalate the situation without any casualties.
TIMES OF ISRAEL
comments