UPDATE: Hostages Safe: British Hostage Taker Dead: the Rabbi and the Pakistani
UPDATE. “Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno of the FBI Dallas Field Office confirmed today the identity of the Colleyville, Texas hostage-taker as British citizen, Malik Faisal Akram, 44…..
Update at 9:55pm: The SWAT situation in Colleyville is resolved and all hostages are safe. We continue to work in partnership with the FBI to finalize all details. We will be addressing the media staging area at Good Shepherd Catholic Church at 10:15pm with an update.
“Around 9 p.m., the HRT — hostage rescue team — breached the synagogue, they rescued the three hostages, the suspect is deceased,” Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller.
Background
The hostage taker at first was thought to be Muhammad Siddiqui be the brother of Aafia Siddiqui , a Palestinian in prison for life according to Israel Times. However, updates state that the brother was uninvolved, according to the prisoner and the Siddiqui family
UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said: “We are aware of the death of a British man in #Texas and are in contact with the local authorities,” the Guardian reported.
Aafia, Pakistani national convicted in 2010 by a New York City Federal Court of attempting to kill US military is currently serving an 86-year sentence at Federal Medical Center, Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas. Police have yet to confirm further details.
The case of Aafia Siddiqui, the “Daughter of Pakistan” From FBI
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that AAFIA SIDDIQUI was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 86 years in prison for the attempted murder and assault of U.S. nationals and U.S. officers and employees in Afghanistan. SIDDIQUI was found guilty of all charges against her following a 14-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge RICHARD M. BERMAN in Manhattan federal court.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “As a unanimous jury found beyond a reasonable doubt, Aafia Siddiqui attempted to murder Americans serving in Afghanistan, as well as their Afghan colleagues. She now faces the stiff consequences of her violent actions. We commend the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force and other law enforcement and military personnel for their tremendous work investigating this case here and abroad.”
According to the Indictment filed in Manhattan federal court, evidence presented at trial, and statements made at the sentencing proceeding:
On July 17, 2008, SIDDIQUI was detained by Afghan authorities, who found a number of items in her possession, including handwritten notes that referred to a “mass casualty attack” and that listed various locations in the United States, including Plum Island, the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Other notes in SIDDIQUI’s possession referred to the construction of “dirty bombs,” and discussed various ways to attack “enemies,” including by destroying reconnaissance drones, using underwater bombs, and deploying gliders.
The next day, on July 18, 2008, a team of U.S. servicemen and law enforcement officers, and others assisting them, attempted to interview SIDDIQUI in Ghazni, Afghanistan, where she had been detained by local police the day before. The U.S. interview team included, among others: three officers and employees of the U.S. Army; two officers and employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and two U.S. Army contract interpreters.
The interview of SIDDIQUI was to take place at an Afghan police compound in Ghazni. In a second-floor meeting room at the compound—where SIDDIQUI was being held, unbeknownst to the U.S. interview team, unsecured, behind a curtain—SIDDIQUI grabbed a U.S. Army officer’s M-4 rifle and fired it at another U.S. Army officer and other members of the U.S. interview team. During the shooting, SIDDIQUI exclaimed her intent and desire to kill Americans.
SIDDIQUI then assaulted one of the U.S. Army interpreters, as he attempted to obtain the M-4 rifle from her. SIDDIQUI subsequently assaulted one of the FBI agents and one of the U.S. Army officers, as they attempted to subdue her.
The evidence at trial showed that, while a student in Boston, Massachusetts, SIDDIQUI had undertaken training and instruction on the handling and shooting of firearms.
On August 4, 2008, SIDDIQUI, 38, was brought from Afghanistan to Manhattan federal court to face a criminal indictment obtained by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Trial began on January 13, 2010, and concluded on February 3, 2010, with the jury reaching a guilty verdict on all counts. Specifically, the jury convicted SIDDIQUI of the following crimes: (1) one count of attempting to kill U.S. nationals outside the United States; (2) one count of attempting to kill U.S. officers and employees; (3) one count of armed assault of U.S. officers and employees; (4) one count of using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence; and (5) three counts of assault of U.S. officers and employees.
The Rabbi:
Charlie Cytron-Walker has been the rabbi at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, TX since 2006. He is CBI’s first full-time rabbi.
Rabbi Charlie is originally from Lansing, Michigan and he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1998. Among other college experiences, he spent forty-eight hours on the streets as someone who was homeless and danced for over twenty-four hours as a part of a Dance Marathon. After graduating, Rabbi Charlie worked at Focus: HOPE, a civil and human rights organization in Detroit, Michigan, and then became the assistant director of the Amherst Survival Center, which housed a food pantry, free store, and soup kitchen in North Amherst, Massachusetts.