Man who sold gun to Texas synagogue hostage-taker sentenced to nearly 8 years

A person who sold a pistol to a person who used it to hold four hostages inside a Texas synagogue earlier than being fatally shot by the FBI was sentenced Monday to nearly eight years in jail for a federal gun crime, the U.S. Department of Justice mentioned.

Henry “Michael” Dwight Williams, 33, pleaded responsible in June to being a felon in possession of a firearm, prosecutors mentioned. Williams sold Malik Faisal Akram the weapon Arkam used when he entered Congregation Beth Israel within the Dallas-area suburb of Colleyville on Jan. 15 and held the synagogue’s rabbi and three others hostage, in accordance to prosecutors.

Williams, who was beforehand convicted of aggravated assault with a lethal weapon and tried possession of a managed substance, sold Akram a semi-automatic pistol on Jan. 13. Prosecutors mentioned that in plea papers, Williams admitted to possession of that firearm regardless of his prior conviction.

“This defendant, a convicted felon, had no business carrying — much less buying and selling — firearms,” U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham mentioned in a news launch.

Prosecutors mentioned Williams confirmed promoting Akram the handgun at a Dallas intersection.

Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, held hostages whereas demanding the discharge of a federal prisoner. The standoff ended after greater than 10 hours when the temple’s rabbi threw a chair at Akram and fled with the opposite two remaining hostages simply as an FBI tactical workforce was shifting in. None of the hostages had been injured.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker instructed CBS News shortly after the incident that he “told them to go, I threw a chair at the gunman and I headed for the door. And all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired.”   

Law enforcement officers praised Cytron-Walker for remaining calm and picked up through the ordeal. 

Cytron-Walker mentioned his response was knowledgeable by totally different programs he had attended over the years with the FBI, the Colleyville Police Department, the Anti-Defamation League and Secure Communities Network. 

(*8*) he mentioned. 

Williams was arrested simply over every week after the standoff.