Photo: DREW ANGERER / Getty Images
For: EFE Updated 17 Jan 2022, 21: 00 pm EST
The hostages who were held Saturday for almost 11 hours in a Texas synagogue, managed to escape unharmed after the temple rabbi threw a chair at the kidnapper, who was later shot dead by the authorities.
This was revealed this Monday by the rabbi of the synagogue of the congregation Beth Israel, Charlie Cytron-Walker, who was kidnapped along with three other hostages in an event that US President Joe Biden has described as an “act of terrorism”.
“It was terrifying. It was overwhelming and we are still processing it,” Cytron-Walker said in an interview with CBS News.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron Walker recalls how he and two other hostages escaped after being held at gunpoint in a Texas synagogue over the weekend: “I threw a chair at the gunman and I headed for the door.” pic.twitter.com/GoRCgI4xlL
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) January 11, 607713908
The The rabbi claimed that he himself let the suspect, identified by the FBI as British citizen Malik Faisal Akram, into the synagogue before the Shabbat service began on Saturday morning.
Thinking that Akram was simply looking for a place to shelter on a cold morning, the rabbi made him a cup of hot tea and let him stay in the service of that Saturday, which was barely attended by three other people and which was broadcast live on Facebook.
At a time when his back was to the attendees, the rabbi heard a clicking noise and thought “it could be a gun“, He assured in another interview this Monday with The New York Times.
While the others were praying, the rabbi approached Akram and told him he could go if he wanted, at which point the man pointed a gun at him.
Cytron-Walker, who had recently received training on how to deal with a threat from someone armed, said he tried to “remain calm” in the room in the hours that followed, while the suspect “raved” and began telephone negotiations with the FBI.
The objective of the kidnapper was to achieve the release of the Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving a sentence of 86 years in prison for having tried to kill US soldiers and agents while he was detained in Afghanistan.
By mid-afternoon, the rabbi managed to calm Akram down enough to allow one of the hostages to be released, but later he became more belligerent in his conversations with the FBI and began “yelling and threatening more,” Cytron-Walker told the New York Times.
Another of the hostages was the vice president of the synagogue, Jeffrey Cohen, who explained this Monday on Facebook that, thanks to the security training they had received, they were able to apply a series of strategies that “saved” their lives.
When Akram asked him to sit down, he chose a row with clear access to the exit, and managed to pass on clues to all the hostages so that they gradually moved to places closer to the door, he said.
As the negotiations dragged on, the rabbi noted in his interview with CBS News, he realized that Akram “wasn’t getting what he wanted.” and could become violent.
“I told them (the other hostages) to leave, I shot him a I pushed the gunman into a chair and ran to the door. And the three of us made it out without even a shot being fired,” the rabbi noted.
Cohen stressed in his Facebook message that he and the other hostages “escaped”, and denied that they were “released” by the authorities.
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