Hostages safe after Texas synagogue standoff; captor dead
The hostage taker was killed, but authorities wouldn't say who shot him.
COLLEYVILLE, Texas – A man held people hostage for more than 10 hours at a Texas synagogue where he could be heard ranting in a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan.
The Colleyville Police Department tweeted Saturday afternoon that it was conducting SWAT operations at Congregation Beth Israel. One of the four hostages held at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville was released during the Saturday standoff.
Authorities say three others got out when an FBI SWAT team entered the building at around 9 p.m.
Services at the synagogue northeast of Fort Worth were being livestreamed on Facebook for a time.
The hostage taker was killed, but authorities wouldn’t say who shot him. A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that the hostage-taker was a British national.
An official told The Associated Press that the hostage-taker demanded the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist suspected of having ties to al-Qaeda.
The neuroscientist is in federal prison in Texas after being convicted of trying to kill U.S. military officers while in custody in Afghanistan.