FBI Names Malik Faisal Akram As Man Killed After Taking Hostages At Texas Synagogue

Topline

The armed man who took four people hostage, including a rabbi, for nearly 12 hours at a Texas synagogue has been identified as 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram, the FBI Dallas Field Office said on Sunday, as an FBI investigation into the incident reportedly spreads overseas.

A law enforcement vehicle sits in front of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue on January 16, … [+] 2022 in Colleyville, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Dallas Field Office Matthew DeSarno said in a statement there is no indication that other individuals were involved in the hostage situation.

All four hostages were safely freed during and after the incident, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, and Akram died during the police standoff, though Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller would not say how he was killed.

DeSarno said additional FBI teams are still gathering evidence at the scene and the investigation is still ongoing.

Key Background

Akram claimed he was armed with weapons when he took four people hostage during Saturday morning services at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, about 15 miles north of Fort Worth, leading to an 11-hour standoff with police. Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller told the Washington Post the hostage taker died after the 11-hour long standoff with police, but did not say how he had been killed. Akram reportedly said he took the people hostage to demand the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist serving an 86-year sentence for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers. Siddiqui is being held at a prison near Fort Worth, Texas.

Tangent

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the FBI investigation into the hostage taker has spread to London and Tel Aviv during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” Tapper said calling for Siddiqui’s freedom has become a frequent cause for Islamist terrorists worldwide. In McCaul’s response, he said he thought the suspect chose the synagogue due to its proximity to the prison facility she is detained in, and said the suspect is British after noting the international investigation. “There’s something more here in the fact he’s calling for ‘Lady al Qaeda’s’ release from prison has been, as you said, in the jihadist world, kind of a cause célèbre,” McCaul said. McCaul said he thinks more information about the hostage situation will come to light in the next 24 to 48 hours.

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