Jan 16, 2022: The FBI on Sunday identified the gunman who was shot dead after taking four hostages at a Texas synagogue as 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, a British national.

According to Sky News Akram was not living in the United States but had recently travelled there.

Hours before the announcement, a British Foreign Office spokesman said they were “aware of the death of a British man in Texas and was in contact with local authorities”.

The hostage-taker was heard on a live stream in front of four hostages, demanding the release of Pakistani neuroscientist, Aafia Siddiqui, who had been convicted and imprisoned for trying to attack and kill US military officers while in detention in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden called the incident an “act of terrorism.” The four hostages were finally released after an 11-hour standoff, which ended when an FBI SWAT team entered the Congregational House of Israel in Coleyville and apparently killed the gunman.

FBI special agent in charge Matthew DeSarno confirmed Akram was a British citizen and that “at this time there is no indication that other individuals are involved”.

The armed hostage taker took four people, including a rabbi, hostage inside the Congregational House of Israel shrine in Coleyville around 11 a.m. local time on Saturday. One was released six hours later before an FBI SWAT team entered the building around 9 p.m., shot the assailant and released the other three unharmed.

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