Four people held hostage in intense eleven hour standoff
A Jewish synagogue in Texas was the target of an attack that led to four people being held hostage in an intense standoff. The hostage taker, Malik Faisal Akram, demanded that alleged Al-Qaeda member and federal prisoner convicted of terrosim charges, Aafia Siddiqui, be released from jail. Akram was armed with a pistol, and let one of the hostages go after six hours, but kept the other three for another five hours before he was shot dead by FBI agents.
While the event was being live-streamed, Akram entered posing as a homeless man seeking shelter. He was welcomed inside, and was even made a cup of tea by Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker. During the prayer, Akram began taking hostages, and yelling could be heard on the livestream before it was disconnected. 9-1-1 was secretly dialed by one of the hostages, and police showed up shortly after.
During the incident, negotiations were taking place with Akram. According to the FBI, he was in a frenzied state, repeatedly threatening the life of the hostages. Akram got on a call with his brother, who was at a local police station, and told him that he was ‘coming home in a body bag’ and ‘not to cry at his funeral’.
The hostages eventually escaped after 11 hours when they noticed the hostage taker was not paying as much attention to them. They threw a chair at Akram and ran out of the building. The FBI stormed the building quickly after they saw the hostages running out and shot Akram dead.