The suspect who took four people hostage this Saturday, January 15, in a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, is “dead”, announced the local police chief.
The four retained victims were released safe and sound.
“The hostage release team stormed the synagogue” and “the suspect is dead,” said Mr. Miller, after a crisis that lasted nearly ten hours.
According to American journalists on the spot, a loud explosion and gunshots had sounded in the synagogue just before the announcement of the death of the suspect by the governor of texas. A few hours earlier, while long hours of negotiations had taken place between the police and the kidnapper, a first hostage had been released unharmed.
Very quickly, the President of the United States Joe Biden had been informed of an “ongoing hostage taking” this Saturday, January 15 in Texas, said White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki. “He will continue to receive updated information from his team,” she tweeted as law enforcement negotiated.
.@POTUS has been briefed about the developing hostage situation in the Dallas area. He will continue to receive updates from his senior team as the situation develops. Senior members of the national security team are also in touch with federal law enforcement leadership.
—Jen Psaki (@PressSec) January 15, 2022
For the release of a Pakistani scientist
The hostage-taking occurred at the synagogue of Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, a town of 23,000 on the outskirts of Dallas.
According to ABC News, the hostage taker claimed to be the “brother” of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist sentenced in 2010 for terrorism by a federal court in New York to 86 years in prison. She had tried to shoot American soldiers while she was detained in Afghanistan. His demand was his release, the channel reported, citing an official familiar with the matter on condition of anonymity.
Aafia Siddiqui is currently being held in a prison hospital in Fort Worth, near Dallas.