Photo: Congregation Beth Israel (Facebook)
The rabbi who was among four people held hostage over the weekend at a synagogue in the Dallas area helped lead a service last night. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker told the congregation how thankful he was for everyone's support. The rabbi and three other members of the congregation were held hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville for nearly eleven hours on Saturday. All four were able to get out without injuries. The hostage-taker, identified as Malik Faisal Akram, was killed when authorities breached the synagogue.
Meanwhile, two British teens, who were taken into custody as part of an investigation into the Texas synagogue terror attack, have been released. Authorities in the U.K. were gathering information from them, regarding the hostage-taker. The Greater Manchester Police said in a statement that their home was searched by the Counter Terrorism task force. It's unclear if anything was found, but they say the teens were released without charges.
Malik Faisal Akram arrived from England a few weeks ago. 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.