Texas hostage crisis ends with FBI storming synagogue, gunman dead
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Security forces arrive to counter the hostage situation in Coleyville, Texas (Image Credit: Shelby Tauber/ Reuters)
Coleyville: Texas Governor Greg Abbot declared the Congregation Beth Israel hostage crisis over as sounds of gunfire peppered the town of Coleyville, where armed man stormed the synagogue and took four people, including the rabbi, as hostage in order to demand the release of a Pakistani terrorist. The FBI stormed the building in a brief conflict which saw all hostages freed.
"Prayers answered. All hostages are out alive and safe," Abbott said on Twitter. President Joe Biden had also been keeping a close eye on the situation as well as Israeli Prime Minister Nafthali Bennet.
The gunman has been declared dead although the FBI have not revealed how he died, only that his death was under investigation. The man has also been identified although that information has not been made public.
The Colleyville Police Department said it first responded to the synagogue with SWAT teams in response to emergency calls beginning at about 10:41 a.m. during the Shabbat service, which was being broadcast online. FBI negotiators soon opened contact with the man, who said he wanted to speak to convicted Pakistani terrorist Aafia Siddiqui aka. 'Lady Qaeda' held in a federal prison.
The man was heard demanding the release of his "sister" (Siddiqui) on the live stream that was set up to broadcast the synagogue's services and was also heard speaking Arabic. Aafia Siddiqui is serving an 86-year U.S. prison sentence for her 2010 conviction for shooting at soldiers and FBI agents,
Her family has condemned the attacks of the gunman according to Siddiqui's lawyer Marwia Elbially. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a U.S. Muslim advocacy group, condemned the man's actions.
"This latest antisemitic attack on Jewish Americans worshipping at a synagogue is an act of pure evil," CAIR said in a statement.