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The rabbi of the Dallas-area synagogue terrorized by a gunman over the weekend says throwing a chair at the suspect helped him escape with two other hostages. They were held for ten hours during the standoff on Saturday. All hostages managed to escape. The British hostage-taker was killed.
Law enforcement first responded to Congregation Beth Israel around 11 a.m. Saturday morning before a nearly 11-hour standoff ended Saturday night. The FBI identified the suspect as 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram of Great Britain. The investigation is now international, between the U.S., Great Britain, and Israel.
Malik Faisal Akram reportedly arrived in the United States from England late last year. The New York Times reports he flew into Kennedy International Airport and, on his travel documents, he listed his destination as a hotel there. The feds say his arrival did not raise any red flags when it came to links to terrorism. There's still no word on why he traveled 16-hundred miles to Texas where he held multiple people at a synagogue in Colleyville hostage.