Collieville, Texas – The gunman who took four people captive at a Texas synagogue in a 10-hour standoff that ended with the hostages fleeing and an FBI tactical team was shot with multiple bullets, according to a medical examiner Gaya , who ruled. Death a murder.
The Tarrant County Medical Examiner on Friday released preliminary information from the autopsy of Malik Faisal Akram, six days after a 44-year-old British national was taken hostage during morning services at Beth Israel in the Dallas-area suburb of Collieville.
In Texas, a death is considered a homicide, indicating that one person was killed by another, but it does not mean that the murder was a crime. Federal officials declined to say who shot Akram, citing an ongoing investigation.
After taking hostages on Saturday, Akram can be heard on a Facebook livestream demanding the release of Pakistani neuroscientist Afia Siddiqui, who is suspected of having links to al-Qaeda and deported to the United States in Afghanistan Is. Was found guilty of trying to kill soldiers. The prison where Siddiqui is serving his sentence is in nearby Fort Worth, but his lawyer said Siddiqui said the prisoner had no connection with Akram.
Akram released one of the hostages after 5 p.m., but survivors later said he became more belligerent and intimidated as the night wore on. The standoff ended at around 9 p.m. after Rabbi Charlie Citron-Walker said he threw a chair at Akram and he and the two other hostages fled.
Video from Dallas TV station WFAA at the end of the standoff shows people running out the door of a synagogue, and then a man holding a gun, opening and closing the same door seconds later. Moments later, several shots and then an explosion could be heard. The medical examiner determined that Akram had died at 9:22 pm
Police stand in front of the Congregational Beth Israel Synagogue on January 16, 2022 in Collieville, Texas. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)
Akram was from the English industrial city of Blackburn. His family said he was suffering from “mental health issues”.
Officials said he arrived in New York on a tourist visa about two weeks before the attack on the synagogue and cleared the investigation against law enforcement databases without any red flags.
He spent time in Dallas-area homeless shelters before the attack. Authorities believe he took the gun used in the private sale to take hostage, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity as the investigation is still ongoing. .
