A regulation enforcement officer walks throughout an intersection close to the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue on January 15, 2022 in Colleyville, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Pictures
All hostages have been launched safely from a synagogue in Dallas-Fort Price following a greater than 10-hour standoff, and the person accountable is lifeless, in accordance with native and federal regulation enforcement.
A gaggle of 4 folks, together with the rabbi, have been taken hostage at about 10:41 a.m. Saturday at Congregation Beth Israel within the metropolis of Colleyville, about 30 miles northwest of Dallas.
The group of hostages have been being held by a person demanding the discharge of a federal prisoner being held in North Texas who was convicted in 2010 of tried homicide in a terrorism-related case, officers mentioned.
One of many hostages was launched shortly after 5 p.m. and FBI disaster negotiators continued to speak with the person within the synagogue Saturday evening.
Round 9 p.m., the FBI’s hostage rescue staff breached the synagogue and rescued the hostages, Colleyville Police Chief Michael C. Miller mentioned.
Miller mentioned the suspect, whose identification has not been launched, is lifeless. Officers didn’t launch how the person died.
The hostages, all of whom have been adults, weren’t bodily harmed and didn’t require medical consideration, officers mentioned.
“Prayers answered. All hostages are out alive and protected,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott mentioned in a tweet.
SWAT staff members deploy close to the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) west of Dallas, on January 15, 2022.
Andy Jacobsohn | AFP | Getty Pictures
Matthew DeSarno, FBI Dallas particular agent in cost, mentioned the hostage taker was thought to have been “singularly centered on one difficulty and it was not particularly associated to the Jewish neighborhood.”
He didn’t present further particulars, however mentioned no data indicated an ongoing menace and that an investigation with “world attain” will likely be performed.
Three senior regulation enforcement officers briefed on the state of affairs mentioned the person advised authorities he needed the launch of Aafia Siddiqui from federal jail. In addition they mentioned the hostage taker had the rabbi in Colleyville name a rabbi in New York Metropolis to say he was being held hostage and that the person needed his “sister” Siddiqui freed.
Siddiqui, 49, was convicted by a federal jury in 2010 of trying to kill U.S. officers in Afghanistan and is at the moment being held at FMC Carswell, a federal jail in Fort Price, Texas.
New York Police Division counter-terrorism groups have been seen Saturday on the synagogue related to the New York rabbi who acquired the decision.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, which has advocated for Siddiqui’s launch and claimed she is harmless, mentioned Siddiqui’s brother was not the hostage taker within the synagogue.
John Floyd, board chair of CAIR Houston and longtime authorized counsel for Siddiqui’s brother, mentioned in an announcement that his shopper is just not answerable for the state of affairs, is just not close to Dallas-Fort Price and that hostage taker has nothing to do with Siddiqui.
“We would like the assailant to know that his actions are depraved and instantly undermine these of us who’re looking for justice for Dr. Aafia,” Floyd mentioned in an announcement.
In an announcement, CAIR’s nationwide deputy director, Edward Ahmed Mitchell, mentioned the group strongly condemned the state of affairs, which he described as “an unacceptable act of evil.”
It was unclear how many individuals have been within the synagogue when police acquired the primary disturbance name Saturday morning.
On a Fb livestream of the congregation’s Shabbat morning service, a person might be heard talking, at occasions cursing and sounding offended.
The video, which has been taken down, didn’t present what was occurring contained in the constructing.
Miller, the Colleyville police chief, mentioned officers started receiving stories {that a} “gunman” had entered the synagogue and had taken 4 hostages. Native authorities responded and evacuated close by houses.
DeSarno, the FBI particular agent in cost, mentioned hostage negotiators had contact for lengthy intervals of time with the person, and credited their work, in addition to that of the practically 200 state, federal and native regulation enforcement officers, with the decision.
Regulation enforcement companies, together with a number of North Texas police departments, the Texas Division of Public Security and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI’s Dallas subject workplace in addition to the company’s hostage rescue staff based mostly in Quantico, Virginia, descended on Colleyville because the state of affairs unfolded.
Miller mentioned Saturday evening that the rabbi of the congregation is an in depth good friend and that the state of affairs was very private. He added that he noticed hope in how the neighborhood got here collectively through the disaster.
Quite a few authorities officers — together with President Joe Biden, Lawyer Normal Merrick Garland, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides and Prime Minister of Israel Naftali Bennett — and faith-based teams mentioned they have been monitoring the state of affairs and supplied their hopes towards a peaceable decision.
Late Saturday evening, Biden thanked those that labored to carry the 4 hostages residence to their households.
“There may be extra we are going to be taught within the days forward in regards to the motivations of the hostage taker,” Biden mentioned. “However let me be clear to anybody who intends to unfold hate—we are going to stand towards anti-Semitism and towards the rise of extremism on this nation. That’s who we are, and tonight, the women and men of regulation enforcement made us all proud.”
Congregation Beth Israel, affiliated with Judaism’s Reform motion, started in 1998 as a chavurah or a small group of Jewish individuals who collect for prayer providers, in accordance with its web site. The group formally established a synagogue in Colleyville in July 1999, and commenced providers at its present location in 2005.