The Texas synagogue hostage episode that resulted in alarming both British and US authorities witnessed how security training proved to be vital in keeping the attacker at bay.
The hostage standoff ended in the killing of the armed suspect who turned out to be a British national.
The security personnel made sure that all the members of the congregation came out of the synagogue safely.
The hostage-taker was identified as 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram hailing from Britain. He was killed on Saturday after the last of the hostages safely ran out of the Congregation Beth Israel approximately at 9 pm.
The motive of the hostage standoff by the killer is still unknown but the FBI and the relevant authorities have started the investigations.
According to the reports, the investigation team has extended its circle all the way to England, where two teenagers were taken into custody in connection with the hostage standoff.
The Greater Manchester Police revealed that the counter-terrorism officers have made few arrests in connection with the hostage standoff but did not state what charges were to be faced by the teenagers.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker stated that the extreme security training that he had been receiving for the past 10 years at the Fort Worth congregation allowed him and his fellow hostages to work out through the long 1- hours – which were very traumatic, to say the least.
“In the last hour of our hostage crisis, the gunman became increasingly belligerent and threatening,” Cytron-Walker said in a statement. “Without the instruction we received, we would not have been prepared to act and flee when the situation presented itself.”
On Sunday night, the FBI issued a statement calling the ordeal “a terrorism-related matter, in which the Jewish community was targeted.” The agency said “the Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating.”
Michael Finfer, the president of the congregation, said in a statement “there was a one in a million chance that the gunman picked our congregation.”
The latest episode of terror has led the authorities all over America to tighten up the security across America. Police have increased the number of deployed officers at “key Jewish institutions” on a cautious basis.
