FBI: Attack on Synagogue Was Terrorism: The Hostage Rescue Team
16 January 2022 Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno of the FBI Dallas Field Office confirmed today, January 16, 2022, the identity of the Colleyville, Texas hostage-taker as British Citizen, Malik Faisal Akram, 44. He had entered the United States on a tourist visa a few weeks before the incident.
The FBI has been getting heat all year for losing its purpose, by chasing Americans as “Domestic Terrorists” While other terrorists and killers slip through the cracks.
Aggravated by remarks that an agent made that the hostage taker was focused on a special issue, not the Jewish Community in the Synagogue terror case , the FBI is seen seen as taking a soft role.
FBI responds 22 January
Remarks by Director Christopher Wray to Anti-Defamation League on Hostage Incident in Colleyville, Texas
Now let me be clear and blunt, the FBI is, and has been, treating Saturday’s events as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community. Within a matter of hours, we deployed FBI SWAT, two highly trained units from our elite Hostage Rescue Team; those are the folks who ultimately were the ones who went into the synagogue, along with canines.
We had our crisis negotiation unit. We had one of our folks on the phone with the hostage taker for hours and hours, and that turned out to be pretty important.
We had our crisis management unit, our counter-IED unit. You may remember that for a good part of Saturday we were concerned that the suspect had one or more bombs in his possession.
So those folks and others, there were a total of about 60 flown in quickly from our Critical Incident Response Group in Quantico, on the ground working with our terrific partners in state and local law enforcement to bring the situation to a safe resolution for the hostages.
And we are not finished.
Our Joint Terrorism Task Forces all across the country will continue to investigate why this individual specifically targeted Congregation Beth Israel on their day of worship.
The FBI Lab is actively processing evidence related to the events. Our Operational Technology Division is analyzing and reviewing phones and other electronic devices and media. And there’s a lot more work to be done, and we’re committed to seeing this all the way through.
This was not some random occurrence. It was intentional; it was symbolic, and we’re not going to tolerate anti-Semitism in this country.
We recognize that the Jewish community, in particular, has suffered violence and faces very real threats from really across the hate spectrum.
Homegrown violent extremists, radicalized by Jihadist movements online, foreign terrorists organizations like ISIS and Hezbollah, state-sponsored groups like the IRGC from Iran, and of course, domestic violent extremists, especially racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists.
All of them have expressed an intent and acted to do harm to the Jewish community, both here at home and abroad. And it’s because of that that we consider the enduring threats to the Jewish community to be among our very highest priorities.
No member of a faith-based community should have to worry about acts of violence at their services.
To be targeted at your place of worship, a space meant to be a sanctuary in every sense of the word, is, in my view, one of the most heinous acts of violence that can be committed.
And unfortunately, we’ve seen these types of attacks play out far, far too often at synagogues and other houses of worship across the country.
It’s why I have, for some time now, set the expectation that leadership in all 56 of the FBI’s field office should be working in their areas with faith communities to build trusted relationships, to maintain open dialogue, and share information with the folks who need it most. And it’s imperative that we establish and build those relationships before a crisis strikes.
As the situation last weekend showed, it’s those partnerships, training, awareness, and preparation that can make all the difference.
You know there’s a saying that the best time to patch the roof is when the sun is shining, before the storm.
And we don’t want to be meeting for the first time in the wake of a tragedy. So, I encourage all of you to be continuing to educate yourselves and each other and your members about how to recognize suspicious activity and to be ready and willing to report it.
In the meantime, we’re going to keep digging to get more answers for Congregation Beth Israel, for the Colleyville community, and for the Jewish community as a whole. I know it’s disheartening to see that these kinds of attacks continue to happen and that there are people out there who target members of the Jewish faith.
But you can be confident that we in the FBI stand with you. And it is my hope that you will continue to see us as a trusted partner and as a valued resource, as we work together in our collective fight against violent extremism.
