Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Authorities say a man apparently took hostages Saturday during services at aa synagogue near Fort Worth and Dallas en Texas.
The Colleyville Police Department tweeted on Saturday afternoon that he was conducting operations with a SWAT team at the address of the Congregation Beth Israel.
We are currently conducting SWAT operations around the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Rd. All residents in the immediate area are being evacuated. Please avoid the area.
— Colleyville Police (@ColleyvillePD) January 12, 2022
The Colleyville Police Department stated on their Twitter account towards 12: 30 (18: 30 GMT) who had an elite SWAT operations team deployed to the block where the synagogue is located, and a an hour and a half later, he assured that the investigation in the area was still active.
“We ask you to continue avoiding the area,” added the police, who have evacuated the area and plans to give more information about the development of events on their social media accounts.
The FBI and elite police teams mobilized this Saturday to respond to the hostage taking is in the synagogue of Colleyville, a city located to 43 kilometres (27 miles) northwest of Dallas, in Texas (United States).
“The FBI negotiators are the ones who have contact with the person inside the building ”, Colleyville police sergeant, Dara Nelson, told CNN, emphasizing that no incidents have been reported. no one injured in the incident.
The initial official information about what happened was scarce, but a police source consulted by CNN, who requested anonymity, assured that there were at least four hostages inside the synagogue and that one of them was a rabbi.
The hostage taking occurred during a religious service in the synagogue of the congregation Beth Israel, who was being broadcast live on the institution’s website on Facebook, the local newspaper “Fort Worth Star-Telegram” reported.
More than 8, People connected to the video of the live broadcast once the first information emerged on social networks about what had happened, until finally the broadcast was suspended without the situation inside the synagogue being resolved. would have resolved.
The video did not show what was happening inside the building, but an angry man could be heard talking about religion, insisting that he did not want hurt anyone and assured that he was going to die, according to the “Star-Telegram”.
Before the video stopped broadcasting, what seemed to be negotiations were heard by phone between the suspect and the agents, says the newspaper.
Congregation Beth Israel (CBI) is affiliated with the Union for Reform Judaism, whose or website indicates that the congregation serves 157 families of members.
The synagogue, established in 1999 with 25 families of members, was the first Jewish congregation in northeast county of Tarrant, according to the CBI website. The CBI community officially opened the doors to its new building in 2005.
CBI holds Saturday morning services every Saturday, and members and non-members alike can watch from home on the live stream, a practice many synagogues have adopted in the wake of the pandemic.
With information from EFE and CNN
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