Beijing, 17 Jan (Xinhua) -- The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on the 16th the identity of the suspect in the Hostage-taking case in the Texas Synagogue the day before: a British citizen.
According to U.S. media reports, the suspect recently arrived in the United States and purchased a gun, took shelter in a homeless shelter for several days, and demanded the release of a Pakistani woman serving a heavy sentence while taking hostages.
On January 15, a hostage-taking incident lasted more than 11 hours at a synagogue in Texas, USA, in which all four hostages were eventually rescued and the hijackers died. Pictured here is Colleville Police Chief Michael Miller briefing on the hostage-taking incident at a news conference. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Tian Dan)
The FBI said the suspect, named Malik Faisal Akram, was 44. British police say Akram is from the city of Black, in north-west England.
Akram abducted four people, including a Jewish cleric, inside a synagogue in Collieville, on the outskirts of Fort Worth. During the stalemate, one hostage was released. About 11 hours after the hijacking, law enforcement launched a rescue operation, Akram died, and the remaining 3 hostages were safely rescued.
The Associated Press reported, citing an unnamed law enforcement officer, that Akram had entered the country from New York about two weeks earlier. Another U.S. official said Akram entered the country legally on a visa. A law enforcement officer told CNN that Akram was not on the "blacklist" of the U.S. and British security services.
The director of a homeless shelter in Texas said Akram had stayed at the shelter for 3 nights a week before the incident and was not suspicious.
U.S. President Joseph Biden said it was "said" that Akram had bought the guns he was holding while taking hostages on the streets. A law enforcement officer told The Associated Press that Akram's gun was believed to have been purchased from a private individual.
Police cars stand guard near the synagogue where hostage-taking occurred in Colleyville, Texas, on Jan. 15. (Xinhua News Agency, photo by Tian Dan)
According to multiple media reports, Akram asked the United States to release Aphia Siddiki, a Pakistani woman held in the Federal Prison of Fort Worth.
Two U.S. officials told CNN that at Akram's request, a prominent Jewish cleric in New York spoke to him, who told him that Siddiki had been "framed" and imprisoned.
Siddiqui, a neuroscientist with degrees in biology and psychiatry from MIT and Brandeis University, was wanted by the FBI in 2004 for terrorism and arrested in Afghanistan in 2008. During interrogation, she grabbed a gun and shot at interrogators such as U.S. military and FBI personnel, and was sentenced to 86 years in prison in 2010 for assaulting U.S. personnel.
U.S. prosecutors said the items Siddiki carried at the time of her arrest showed that she was suspected of being linked to an attempt to launch an attack on the United States. Items include paper with words such as "massive random attack" and "dirty bombs" written on them, as well as lists some landmarks in the United States.
Siddiki's relatives and friends insisted she was innocent, had "no connection" to any terrorist organization such as Al Qaeda, and that "the charges were not even related to terrorism" and that she was a victim of the so-called "war on terror" of the United States.
Siddiki's family also denied media claims that one of her husbands was the nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the main mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in the United States, while questioning how she had the opportunity to grab a gun and shoot in the presence of multiple U.S. military and FBI interrogators.
Siddiqui's supporters often held protest demonstrations in and around the United States. CNN has reported that a petition on the White House website calling for Siddiqui's release received more than 100,000 signatures in a matter of weeks.
Terrorist groups such as the Pakistani Taliban have also offered to trade hostages for Siddiki's release. However, Siddiki's family believes that such actions by extremist and terrorist groups have ulterior motives.
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Akram claimed to be Siddiki's brother. However, Siddiki's lawyer denied Akram's claims, saying Siddiki had "absolutely no" connection to the incident and condemned it.
Gulbar, who identified himself as Akram's brothers, posted on the social media pages of blackburn's local Muslim community that Akram had a history of mental illness.
During the hijacking, the family had been in contact with Akram and negotiators and FBI personnel during the hijacking, but "no matter what we say and do, we can't persuade him to surrender.", Gulbar said.
"As a family member, we do not support any of his actions and would like to express our sincere apologies to all the victims of this unfortunate incident." Gulbar wrote.
Charlie Zitlon-Walker, a hijacked Jewish cleric, said in a statement that before the end of the incident, "the gunmen became more aggressive and fierce" in the final hours.
CNN reported that during the hostage-taking, Akram repeatedly expressed his intention to "seek death" during his phone calls with the outside world. A law enforcement officer revealed that he asked that Siddiki be taken to the church and that the two "die together."
U.S. law enforcement has not yet released the cause of Akram's death.
Zittron Walker attributed his escape from danger with the other hostages to previous emergency training: "If we are not instructed, we will not be ready to act and escape when a (favorable) situation arises." ”
Biden and British Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Traus called the incident an act of terrorism.
The FBI said there was "no indication" of others involved in the hostage-taking. The British police issued a statement on the evening of the 16th, saying that the anti-terrorism police had detained two teenagers for interrogation. (Hui Xiaoshuang)