Suspect Takes Hostages at Texas Synagogue, Demands Release of Notorious Prisoner

[applegrove]

Suspect Takes Hostages at Texas Synagogue, Demands Release of Notorious Prisoner

DEVELOPING

The man’s threats of violence were captured on the synagogue’s livestream.

Corbin Bolies, Justin Rohrlich and Rachel Williams at the Daily Beast

Updated Jan. 15, 2022 6:23PM ET / Published Jan. 15, 2022 2:57PM ET 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/hostage-situation-unfolds-at-congregation-beth-israel-synagogue-in-colleyville-texas-during-facebook-lives?ref=scroll

"SNIP......

The synagogue’s Facebook livestream had briefly provided a glimpse into the tense situation inside as the situation unfolded earlier in the day. Nobody could be seen on the video but a man with a British accent could be heard making multiple demands to speak to his “sister” on the phone, and to have her released from prison. Just before 2 p.m. local time, about two hours after the siege began, the livestream cut out.

Citing law enforcement sources, NBC News and ABC News reported that the sister is Aafia Siddiqui, 49, who was convicted in New York of trying to assassinate U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. She is serving an 86-year prison sentence at a federal facility in Fort Worth.

However, a lawyer who previously represented Siddiqui’s biological brother told The Daily Beast that he is not the person inside the synagogue.

Muhammad Siddiqui, an architect, was not happy that he had been implicated in the situation, and wanted people to know that Aafia was not the suspect’s biological “sister,” said Annette Lamoreaux, who represented Muhammad in 2004 when the FBI questioned him over Aafia’s ties to al-Qaeda.

.....SNIP"

[blogslug]

1. I was wondering if the hostage-taker was actually Aafia Siddiqui's actual brother

Maybe he's calling her sister in a symbolic fashion?

This whole thing is scary and strange. I hope it ends quickly and peacefully.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

2. Yes, clearly with more information than Twitter ever provides...meant sister in the general sense.

Even the major networks ducked up in the rush to beat Twitter with a conclusion without a foundation of fact.