Texas hostages escaped synagogue as FBI SWAT team rushed in
By JAKE BLEIBERG and JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press
COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — An FBI official says that in the final moments of a 10-hour standoff with a gunman at a Texas synagogue, the remaining hostages and the officials trying to negotiate their release took “near simultaneous plans of action,” with the hostages escaping as an FBI tactical team moved in. Authorities say Malik Faisal Akram, a British citizen, took four hostages during morning services at Congregation Beth Israel in the Dallas-area suburb of Colleyville on Jan. 15. Matt DeSarno, the FBI’s special agent in charge in Dallas, said at a news conference Friday that as the hostages fled, the FBI rushed in and fatally shot Akram.
