WFAA obtained 911 recordings and bodycam footage from Colleyville PD, days earlier than the one-year mark because the hostage situation at Congregation Beth Israel.
COLLEYVILLE, Texas —
The 911 calls poured in on the morning of Jan. 15, 2022.
A British citizen who traveled to the U.S. and throughout the nation entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville whereas a Sabbath service was being livestreamed.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi on the time, welcomed him in with tea. The man instructed a narrative of homelessness. Cytron-Walker and one other member of the Congregation believed his story checked out.
Then, Cytron-Walker heard the sound of a gun click on.
That was the second Malik Faisal Akram took Cytron-Walker and three others hostage.
Nearly one 12 months after the hostage standoff, WFAA obtained 911 audio of the hostage disaster from the Colleyville Police Department. Previous requests for the 911 audio weren’t granted because of ongoing investigation on the time.
“Please get someone there,” one of many callers instructed a 911 dispatcher. She was watching the tense situation unfold in a Facebook livestream of the service.
“Someone is in our synagogue yelling at the Rabbi obscenities,” one other 911 caller mentioned.
Among the 911 callers was the partner of one of many hostages.
“My husband’s inside… his name is Shane,” the lady mentioned.
911 audio from Cytron-Walker revealed the horror from contained in the synagogue.
“I’ve got someone who has a gun and he says he has two bombs,” Cytron-Walker told a 911 dispatcher as he calmly tried to talk down the gunman in the background. “This is a very stressful situation.”
Cytron-Walker’s 911 name, which lasted greater than an hour and forty minutes, grew intense by the minute. At one level within the audio, Akram took the telephone and commenced talking immediately with the dispatcher.
“I love death, more than you love life. I love death more than you [expletive] love life,” Akram mentioned. “I have three bombs here my dear, you wanna [expletive] catch me? I’m gonna tell you what I need. In the next hour and a half, Jewish people are gonna die if you don’t [expletive] comply. If this bomb goes, I’m gonna kill innocent [expletive] Texans, and I love Texas people.”
Akram demanded to “get the main rabbi in America on the phone” and mentioned: “Listen rabbi, listen, you’re a good guy. You let me in here.”
Colleyville PD bodycam footage obtained by WFAA exhibits the second one of many hostages, 86-year-old Lawrence (Larry) Schwartz, was released, which was roughly midway into the 11-hour standoff.
The bodycam video exhibits legislation enforcement officers serving to Schwartz right into a car, the place he was safely transported away from the synagogue.
“Can I call my wife?” Schwartz mentioned. “You can call anybody you want,” an officer responded.
“I just wanna let her know that I’m alright,” Schwartz mentioned.
Late into the evening, Cytron-Walker waited for a second when Akram was distracted. He yelled “run,” and threw a chair on the gunman.
In a movie-like escape, Cytron-Walker and the remaining hostages, Jeff Cohen and Shane Woodward, bolted out of an exit door.
Law enforcement made their approach into the synagogue and shot Akram to demise.
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