Those Texas synagogue hostages apparently freed themselves
The initial articles’ descriptions of the end of the Texas synagogue standoff were so murky that I wondered what really happened. Had law enforcement been instrumental in freeing the hostages, or not? Had they been let go? Had they escaped? It seems to be the latter:
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker told BBC partner CBS News the group had been praying when he heard a click that turned out to be the hostage-taker’s gun, and he and three others were held captive.
“We were threatened the entire time but fortunately none of us were physically injured,” he said.
One hostage was released after six hours, while the other three escaped several hours later.
“When I saw an opportunity, when he wasn’t in a good position, I made sure the gentlemen were still with me, they were ready to go,” Rabbi Cytron-Walker recalled. “The exit wasn’t too far away, I told them to go.”
He then threw a chair at the gunman and headed for the door.
“It was terrifying. It was overwhelming and we’re still processing. It’s been a lot,” Rabbi Cytron-Walker said.
How did the hostage-taker die? I’ve read several articles, and although it’s somewhat unclear, it appears that after the hostages had escaped, the authorities entered and killed him (although I continue to wonder if perhaps he killed himself, as sometimes happens).
Akram was a British citizen, the FBI said. He arrived in the U.S. two weeks prior to his death via New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, a federal law enforcement source told CBS News.
A British citizen of Pakistani descent. Where did he get the money to travel? How did he obtain the weapon? He apparently wasn’t on any terror watch lists, and yet this was his history:
Akram had been the subject of an exclusion order in 2001 banning him from Blackburn magistrates court after he made remarks about the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, saying he wished a court usher had been on the planes flown into buildings to commit mass murder…
A community source in Blackburn said Akram was known to behave unusually, including in and around mosques in the Lancashire town.
Not enough to stop him from getting a passport and coming here. There are probably thousands of British subjects with a similar profile – vaguely problematic and suggestive of sympathy with Islamic terrorism but nothing so very unusual.
The stated goal of his hostage-taking was to free a U.S.-trained Pakistani neuroscientist who is held prisoner in the US, having been convicted of terrorist activity. This explains why the gunman chose this particular Texas location:
Siddiqui was convicted in 2010. Now 49, she is currently being held a short drive from the Colleyville synagogue at FMC Carswell prison in Fort Worth, Texas, according to a database of federal inmates.
Dubbed “Lady al-Qaida” in the media, Siddiqui’s release has also been sought by groups including ISIS and the Taliban. When she was convicted, protests erupted across Pakistan by those who believe Siddiqui was innocent.
So this has been a big cause in Pakistan.
The rabbi mentioned something the FBI and various other organizations actually got right:
“Over the years, my congregation and I have participated in multiple security courses from the Colleyville Police Department, the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League, and Secure Community Network,” Cytron-Walker said in a statement late Sunday.
“We are alive today because of that education. I encourage all Jewish congregations, religious groups, schools, and others to participate in active-shooter and security courses,” he said.
“In the last hour of our hostage crisis, the gunman became increasingly belligerent and threatening,” Cytron-Walker added. “Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself.”
Indeed.
“How did the hostage-taker die?”
Dead men tell no tales.
I would imagine that many, many Jewish congregations have taken this training.
Pakistan is one of those countries the rest of us could pretty much do without.
FWIW, here’s who made guys like this possible:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324112/Lord-Mandelson-Immigrants-We-sent-search-parties-hard-Britons-work.html
“Labour sent out ‘search parties’ for immigrants to get them to come to the UK, Lord Mandelson has admitted.
In a stunning confirmation that the Blair and Brown governments deliberately engineered mass immigration, the former Cabinet Minister and spin doctor said New Labour sought out foreign workers.
He also conceded that the influx of arrivals meant the party’s traditional supporters are now unable to find work.
By contrast, Labour leader Ed Miliband has said his party got it wrong on immigration but has refused to admit it was too high under Labour.
Between 1997 and 2010, net migration to Britain totalled more than 2.2million, more than twice the population of Birmingham.
The annual net figure quadrupled under Labour from 48,000 people in 1997 to 198,000 by 2009.
Lord Mandelson’s remarks come three years after Labour officials denied claims by former adviser Andrew Neather that they deliberately encouraged immigration in order to change the make-up of Britain.
Mr Neather said the policy was designed to ‘rub the Right’s nose in diversity’.
He said there was ‘a driving political purpose: that mass immigration was the way that the Government was going to make the UK truly multicultural’…..”
I wish the State of Israel would publicly and permanently revoke the Aliyah Rights of people like Mandelson who deliberately make life more intolerable for Jews (and others, no less) in Western countries by importing the unspeakable in the service of this Diversity-Baal.
Imagine being a Londoner.. I mean one of the few Legacy Londoners left and being lectured on your sinfulness the likes of another Paki, Siddiq Khan. It’s intolerable.
CRASE. Citizen Resoinse to Active Shooter Environment–something like that. It’s available and most police departments have somebody qualified to present it.
Takes two-plus hours. Recordings from Columbine, data from Virginia Tech. Information on other disasters and what could have been done differently.
What are the tells for a bad guy? Local laws regarding weapons in churches?
We have an informal goal of making sure the more robust guys look around for the less mobile in case of a panic. A handful of Gopher Gassers in the hands of a fourteen year old can cause a panic sufficient to get people killed.
The remaining hostages did the smart thing and took the risk of bolting out when they could. When Muzzie starts talking to himself, it’s about to be showtime. I figure that if C20 taught anyone anything it was not to sit around waiting for things to improve or for help to arrive. Besides Current Year Feds could easily have shot them too through incompetence.
Given what we know about this event involving a “British citizen” (cough; h/t Washington Post, New York Times), have Biden, Pelosi, Schumer, et al. found a moment to rail against “gun violence”?
I keep wondering if the synagogue is a gun free zone. If any of the hostages had been armed, the situation would have been resolved very quickly. Considering Jewish history and the increase in anti-Semitism, Jews should arm themselves.
It is not just the Jewish synagogues that have found it necessary to prepare themselves. In the last 5 years or so there seems to be a huge increase in the number of Christian churches with official , organized security teams.
We did have a case last year in east Texas where a black guy fleeing the law ended up taking a gun from the white pastor, killing the pastor and shooting another white member of the congregation who was running away. For some reason, there was not wall to wall coverage of this by the mainstream national media, and get this, no burning and looting either….
SamS:
There were only 4 people there. They let the guy in and he was polite and talking for quite some time, not belligerent at all. Then he suddenly pulled a gun when their backs were turned and started making demands. I don’t see that it would have made a difference in this particular case had they been armed, unless they were Quick Draw McGraw.
MollyG:
I read somewhere that Biden did.
From Karol Markowicz, a NY Post columnist who recently moved with her family to Florida to escape the problems with NYC public schools and teachers’ unions: “I saw a Jewish friend in Florida the other night and he was carrying. I was like damn, these are different Jews than I’m used to. We should all not be sitting ducks.”
https://twitter.com/karol/status/1482801920913854466
Was the Terrorist Attack in Colleyville a Replay of the Terrorist Attack in Garland in 2015?
So, the questions become: (1) how did Faisal Akram gain a visa to enter the United States? (2) Who did he visit? (3) Who gave him the weapon? (4) Who facilitated his travel and targeting operations; and lastly, (5) who financed and assisted him in his attack?
Unfortunately, the most obvious answer is just like the 2015 Garland example, the FBI was his enabler.
More here:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2022/01/17/was-the-terrorist-attack-in-colleyville-a-replay-of-the-terrorist-attack-in-garland-in-2015
neo,
Wonderful news and incredible bravery by the hostages! It’s probably very difficult to do, but one’s best chance in a threatening situation like this is probably very early on, before the perpetrator can establish control. Or, as seems the case here, after some time when the perpetrator may let his guard down a bit.
Remember the office drills at the World Trade Center (most all of us have likely been through similar drills) where folks were trained to remain in place in an emergency? Well, thank God some folks assessed the situation and started heading down the stairwells. There is no “one size fits all” proper response to every emergency. Like the heroes in this synagogue, one must always be willing to take action for oneself based on one’s best guess.
—From Karol Markowicz, a NY Post columnist who recently moved with her family to Florida to escape the problems with NYC public schools and teachers’ unions: “I saw a Jewish friend in Florida the other night and he was carrying. I was like damn, these are different Jews than I’m used to. We should all not be sitting ducks.”—
There’s this excellent place in the Levant with nice beaches too… and if she’d read her history she’d know that Manning Up and Not Being Sitting Ducks Anymore were a good chunk of the Zionist Project Prospectus from the get go. Worked out well, too, given that sitting ducks generally speaking don’t have nuclear triads. Also not many Pakis wandering about having psychotic breaks.
The big question, though… is how will she vote now that she’s in Florida? For the record, I’m not saying that this Dem Cities Refugees voting patterns issue is just a Jewish Thing.
SamS on January 17, 2022 at 8:50 pm
“I keep wondering if the synagogue is a gun free zone.”
This item suggests it was, and this particular author (other rabbi) is not happy about it, suggesting a dereliction of duty to protect the attendees.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rabbi-michael-barclay/2022/01/17/wolves-and-sheepdogs-in-colleyville-n1550350
Neo’s comment at 8:57 also would apply, but a concealed carry attendee might still have been able to defend the group. They were also perhaps naïve in not being more suspicious of someone no one had validated previously.
Here’s a few clues for Z, the Sage of Hong Kong; the New York Post is not the New York Times and let this other clue sink in; not all Jews are the same or think alike, or so I’ve been led to believe.
What a tool.
Here’s a clue for you, Om… Not all journalists who work for more ‘conservative’ media outlets are actually, you know, Real Conservatives. Journalists sell their words (and more, sometimes) for a living.
This especially is true of the Murdoch Press — whether tabloid here or broadsheet there.
And women, especially, are very capable of being Conservative about their Children’s education and… wait for it… Nothing Else.
It’s been a slow morning here. So there’s plenty of my droppings in multiple threads for you to go sweep up. Hop to it!
Z you are the self identified dung beetle, out of Africa and all that.
So now you are the sage of the fairer sex too? Lord love a duck!
It is interesting that you realize that some of your output is offal. To bad that you feel the need to share it or smear it about.
Some good stuff from Dan Greenfield here:
http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2022/01/texas-synagogue-terrorist-came-out-of.html
His real employers must have a very good dossier on the UK Cesspit where this particular Paki Muzzie Maniac was nurtured. Very comprehensive reporting. Kind of reminds me of what Journalism used to be like.
@om:
Stick to the ducks if you must but try not to get arrested. And should you happen to step in any kind of aliquid novi or even aged like fine wine ex Africa, I’d recommend a course of antibiotics.
Neo,
Your comment about Quick Draw McGraw is smart alecky and not very useful and is inaccurate. Did you ever watch the video of the church shooting in White Settlement Texas: less than six seconds, three shots, three dead? In this recent incident, one man had time to escape, the rabbi had time to grab a chair and hit the hostage taker with it. Surely, earlier in the incident the hostage taker was distracted a couple times.
Watch the White Settlement video and see how quickly the armed volunteer security officer reacts. He drew and fired while the original shooter was still looking at his second victim. That is Quick Draw McGraw and lots of people are just as fast.
SamS:
Apparently you didn’t understand my point.
You wrote: ” If any of the hostages had been armed, the situation would have been resolved very quickly. ” In other words, “very quickly” appears to mean something like “at the outset, when they were being taken hostage.”
At the end, when they were escaping even though they were unarmed, it actually was resolved fairly quickly anyway. But by then, they already had been in a hostage situation for 10 or 11 hours. That’s not quickly. By the time the rabbi was throwing the chair, etc. (the scenario you describe later on in your comment at 12:38 AM), and a gun might have been effective, they were on their way to success without a gun.
In my earlier comment at 8:57 PM I was referring to what I thought YOU were talking about, which was the initial hostage-taking situation, when a quick resolution was theoretically possible. However, as I noted (and as one of the articles described), their backs were turned when the perp pulled a gun on them. I made that quite clear when I wrote: “They let the guy in and he was polite and talking for quite some time, not belligerent at all. Then he suddenly pulled a gun when their backs were turned and started making demands. I don’t see that it would have made a difference in this particular case had they been armed…”
I’m not disputing, and have never disputed, the idea that being armed can stop some threatening situations in their tracks. I’m not in favor of gun-free zones; I think they are invitations to trouble. I’ve written about such situations many times before. However, the prospective hostages here would have had to have – with man pointing a loaded weapon at their backs – somehow spun around and fired before he was able to fire at them.
Guns wouldn’t have helped them unless they were extremely skilled and could somehow turn around and get a shot off faster than he could react.
Marisa: Thank you for that link. Great article.
In the UK, counter-terrorist police confirmed that Malik Faisal Akram was originally from the Blackburn area of Lancashire.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-60014006
I read the news today, oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall
I’d love to turn you on
Related (but of course…):
“Biden Called Kyle Rittenhouse A White Supremacist, But Won’t Speculate On Motive Of Malik Faisal Akram”
https://blazingcatfur.ca/2022/01/17/biden-called-kyle-rittenhouse-a-white-supremacist-but-wont-speculate-on-motive-of-malik-faisal-akram/
(To be sure, that should be “…IMMEDIATELY Called Kyle Rittenhouse A White Supremacist, But…”)
@ R2L and SamS > in re sheepdogs and wolves
I looked for a video of the White Settlement shooting, and only found one (on the first Search page) with actual footage of the guard firing, but it did not have enough context to time his movements. The poster does say that the video he “found online is only 51 seconds long,” (and doesn’t give a link), and Wikipedia says 6 seconds for all three shots is correct.
This particular post was an analysis indicating that perhaps the guard, labeled Sheepdog #1 by the poster, was already suspicious and prepared to act, which Wiki also noted, but not in that figurative language.
https://www.tacticalbluetv.com/white-settlement-church-shooting-the-analysis/
@ Marisa & Zaphod The concatenation of the posts by Sundance and Greenfield is — to be blunt — sickening.
Sundance: After giving a long, very long, list of the terrorist operations the FBI was aware of ahead of time, that we know about —
Plus, as one commenter said, “And you didn’t even mention Merrick Garland siccing the FBI on parent groups.”
Greenfield:
“…purposeful distraction…”
Might one infer that that’s, similarly, the reason for the latest Ukraine “imbroglio”?
IOW, “Um, uh, Vlad, we’re in a spot of difficulty at the moment. Can you give us a hand? Pretend to stir things up a bit in Ukraine? (Oh, come on, pal, don’t forget Nord Stream!—I mean what are friends for?)”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/false-flags-suddenly-no-longer-crazy-conspiracy-theory
…And then there’s Covid…
File under: “The plague’s the thing…by which we’ll catch th’ election, gain the Ring!”
I hope the non-government press will soon unearth actual details on where this terrorist got the gun, who helped him, and where he got the funding. He flew to New York and traveled to Texas, to this synagogue near where the female terrorist is being held. It seems unlikely this was a one-man show.
Barry Meislin, yes, a “wag-the-dog” sort of diversion might happen. These people will do anything to retain power.
Another aspect of this is the early statement of the Michigan Attorney General that the hostage-taker was probably a white supremacist. I’m sure many Jewish Americans have whiplash from the number of times they vary from being victims of white supremacy to being, themselves, white supremacists.
Indeed, but since one might well despair of finding anything resembling journalism in the mainstream corrupt media, this is the place to start:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10413273/British-terrorist-hunted-cops-days-flew-New-York.html
One of the aspects of training for this sort of thing is the tells that an individual is a potential problem. The afore-mentioned CRASE syllabus/presentation gets into that. Cops may flesh it out if asked.
Gavin deBecker in his The Gift of Fear, written mostly for women, says we don’t need to act as if a hunch/vibes/feeling is gospel, but we should always think hard about why we have it. Much of our environment is assessed subliminally, as is the processing of such information. And we have a feeling. Like the math problem where you didn’t show your work. Pay attention.
See Oxford High School This kid gave everybody the creeps but nobody broke the rule against checking the backpack.
I haven’t seen any reports that the Michigan AG has been questioned on her BS guess. But I’m reminded of he Aunt Polly defense when she smacked Tom Sawyer instead of the actually guilty Sid. “Didn’t get a lick amiss, I reckon.”
It’ll be true next time.
Kate implores “I hope the non-government press will soon unearth actual details on where this terrorist got the gun, who helped him, and where he got the funding.”
Media ought to lead this. However,
trolling cable news early Tuesday morning, on Fox or a business channel or news nation, one report stated that the FBI announced a warning to houses of worship to be alert to new terrorist threats.
The usual PC proviso of almost non-existent “domestic” terror was joined to “international” terrorism, of course.
At least there’s some semblance of realism emerging, given Xi-Den’s surrender monkey posture against actual, consistent, national defense of the US against the avowed enemies of the US that isn’t.
I look forward 5hr the gutting if FIB and inJustice Federal Departments. And a liberated rebuilding. But does any body hold their breaths? Of course not.
Labor Party in the UK was willing to open the borders and import massive numbers of people who hate Britain and British values simply because the haters would vote for Labor. The Democrats in America have adopted the same strategy. The downfall for the Ds, however, is that they may not have imported people who hate America as thoroughly and completely. Since many of those who have come here seem to have a greater love for the essential idea of America than their Dem sponsors, the electoral power gain may be dissipating quickly.
Democrats may find that the cemetery and imaginary people are more dependable sources of voters.
The Democrats in America have adopted the same strategy.
Yes and it is backfiring. They think all “POCs” are alike and equally malleable. Mexican immigrants are Christian, for one thing, not Muslim. The illiterate Indians they have been letting in since Trump was overthrown are unknown and unlikely to fit any Democrat demographic. They are welfare sponges, mostly. Quite a few of the people coming in now are unknowns. Haitians who have not been in Haiti for years is one group. I suspect a share are potential terrorists but Democrats see only Republicans as a threat.
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Looks like Dem support of Jew-hating Blacks & (envious?) White college Professors will be leading more of them to, quietly at first, start supporting more conservative Reps.
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/being-jewish-in-an-unraveling-america
When American Jews defend themselves, they’re more likely to support Israel, and oppose the Israel-hating Democrats. Whether they’re believers or merely ethnic Jews, normal people who understand the need for self-defense learn that “diversity increases danger from neighbors who are different”.
That’s the sad truth that Dems hate, but it remains true.
@TomGrey:
Totally agree with your formulation.
‘Whether they’re believers or merely ethnic White People, normal people who understand the need for self-defense learn that “diversity increases danger from neighbors who are different”.’
Very well put, Sir. What’s good for the Goose…
Now get back to me when you can say my version in Ye Fabled Public Square and not be cancelled.
And women, especially, are very capable of being Conservative about their Children’s education and… wait for it… Nothing Else.
Markowicz is conservative. As I recall, she’s a Russian Jewish immigrant, so she knows a thing or two about leftists and anti-Semitism, and has been blogging and writing in NY as a conservative for some 20 years.
“diversity increases danger … ”
Which triggered me to recognize something I had not appreciated before. The goal of REAL diversity is to obtain a group of people with a depth and breadth of insight, experience, and knowledge such that at least one of them can provide a superior solution compared to what is on offer from the rest. Thus, for that particular person who provides that particular better/best solution or idea, he/she is in fact unequal and superior to the others present. Diversity has nothing at all to do with creating or obtaining equal outcomes, but superior ones.
Which is part of why this blog is so good: the hostess and commenters constitute a truly diverse group (who still manage to respect each other – for the most part 🙂 ); and provide a variety of very good ideas/ solutions.
@Jimmy:
“As I recall, she’s a Russian Jewish immigrant”
Would that make her a slavering war-mongering neocon like Max Boot? Or not? I don’t know and don’t care to research further. But wouldn’t bet against it blindly.
There’s more than one way to get yourself called ‘Conservative’ in the USA. And not all of them are in any way really very Conservative when the chips are down.
@R2L:
Superior outcomes require admission that Hierarchy is natural and proper.
And that is a huge problem for the Bio Leninist foot soldiers of the Ruling Class.
Jimmy:
So it appears that Z was blowing smoke again.
Inconceivable, because she must be a “Max Boot” of a different sex. Own goal, Z.