Hostage-taking operation in a Texas synagogue ends with the death of the perpetrator
On the night of Saturday, Sunday, four people who were held in a synagogue in the city of Colleville, Texas, were freed, and they all came out unharmed, while the perpetrator, who was calling for the release of a Pakistani woman convicted of terrorism, was killed during the police storming of the place.
"The Hostage Liberation Team stormed the synagogue," Colville Police Chief Michael Miller said. "The suspect is dead."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that "all the hostages have come out alive and unharmed."
Matt Desarno of the FBI in Dallas said that the four bettors, including Rabbi Charlie Citron-Walker, did not need medical attention, stressing that their detainee "was not harmed."
The FBI opened an investigation into the hostage taker, without revealing his name, Matt Desarno confirmed.
"We have knowledge of the death of a British man in Texas and we are in contact with the local authorities," the British Foreign Secretary said in response to news reported by some media that the detainee was British.
Journalists present at the scene said they heard a loud explosion and gunshots in the synagogue just prior to Abbott's statement.
Hours ago, while arduous negotiations were taking place between the police and the perpetrator, the first hostage was released.
ABC News had quoted a source at the hostage-taking site as saying that the suspect was armed and claimed to have planted bombs in unknown locations.
The hostage-taking took place in the Beth Israel Synagogue in the city of Colleville, which has a population of about 23 thousand people, about forty kilometers from the city of Dallas.
During the Saturday prayer broadcast live on Facebook before it was interrupted, a turbulent man's voice can sometimes be heard saying that "something is not right in America," adding, "I'm going to die," asking his conversation several times to speak to his "sister" over the phone.
ABC News reported that the man was calling for the release of Afia Siddiqi, who was dubbed "the Lady of Al Qaeda" by American newspapers.
Siddiqi is a Pakistani scientist who was sentenced in 2010 by a federal court in New York to 86 years in prison for attempting to shoot US soldiers while she was in custody in Afghanistan.
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