Four people were held hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue on 15 January 2022 by British citizen Malik Faisal Akram. Disrupting the Shabbat service in Colleyville, Texas, Akram took the four people, one being a rabbi, hostage for a span of 10 hours. Akram’s continuous shouting and threatening comments could be heard by online viewers of the service as it was being live streamed. Over the course of the hostage, almost 200 SWAT and F.B.I. agents converged at the synagogue while working with local law enforcement officers to resolve the issue. The main question while resolving the hostage situation, though, was what was the issue and Akram’s motives?  

Per viewers of the livestream and law enforcement officials who were communicating with Akram while inside the synagogue, Akram was heard demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani Neuroscientist who was convicted of assaulting and shooting at US military officers while being detained in Afghanistan. Though Malik spoke of her release, Siddiqui’s lawyers confirmed that she had no involvement in the situation and condemned all of his recorded actions. Claims from her lawyers were made due to Akram’s reference to Siddiqui as his ‘sister’, but that statement was later on dismissed and reinforced by Siddiqui’s actual brother being in Houston. As a British citizen, Akram was already known to British officials and was under ‘criminal’ watch in 2020. Many components were considered in trying to determine Akram’s motives such as his activity in New York prior to his arrival to Dallas, people he associated with in the homeless shelter he stayed at the night before, and his family’s confirmation of his suffering to mental illness, but all of this was not enough to conclude his intentions. 

All four hostages were able to escape safe and unharmed, with one of them being released earlier than the others. Without knowing the activity inside of the synagogue after the livestream ended, Dallas officials breached the synagogue while the remaining hostages were simultaneously in the process of their escape. Once inside, Akram was shot by the police, resulting in his death.