Team effort led to the end of standoff at Colleyville synagogue, law enforcement says
Law enforcement authorities credited a team effort between local, state and federal authorities after four people taken hostage in a Colleyville synagogue were rescued Saturday after an 11-hour standoff.
“I’d like to think this is a success due to the partnerships that we have with our local, state and federal law enforcement partners. It’s been an incredible operation,” Colleyville Police Chief Michael Miller said. “We’ve had at least 200 law enforcement personnel here pretty much all day today. We couldn’t have done it without them. And we thank them. We thank the community as well.”
Officials said at a press briefing said Saturday night that the rescued hostages are being interviewed by FBI and will be reunited with their families as soon as possible.
Officials did not release the name of the hostage taker or the ages of the hostages, but did confirm everyone was an adult.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt DeSarno from the Dallas field office said a federal investigation into the hostage taker will be conducted globally, with special focuses on Tel Aviv and London.
The gunman, he said, was “singularly focused on one issue” not related to Jewish community.
DeSearno said the rescue of the hostages and death of the hostage taker “was a result of a long, long day of hard work by nearly 200 law enforcement officers from across this region.”
North Tarrant Regional SWAT team was the first to take control of the scene, handing it off to a FBI hostage rescue team of 60 to 70 people from Washington whose sole mission is to conduct hostage rescues.
Communication between FBI negotiators and the hostage taker was nearly constant throughout the day, with some periods of silence. DeSarno said the hostages’ survival throughout the day was almost certainly due to that constant communication.
“We do believe that, from engaging with the subject, he was singularly focused on one issue and it was not specifically related to the Jewish community,” DeSarno said. “We will continue to work to find motives and we will continue on that path in terms of the resolution of the incident.”
A police spokesperson said after the briefing there is no way to know exactly how long it will take for residents who were evacuated to return to their homes, but police and FBI are working as quickly as possible to make that happen.
The FBI would not confirm any connection between the hostage taker and Aafia Siddiqui, known as Lady al-Qaeda, who is being held at Carswell prison in Fort Worth.
The hostage taker was heard on a livestream of the service, which continued for hours after police arrived at the scene, demanding to speak on the phone with his “sister,” possibly referencing Siddiqui.
“All I can confirm is that what you heard on the livestream you did hear on the livestream,” Desarno said.
DeSarno said investigations into the hostage taker, as well as an independent investigation into the shooting that occurred during the hostage rescue, are ongoing and that more details will become available over the course of those investigations.
DeSarno said he could not offer any insight into why the hostage rescue team moved in when they did, but emphasized that it was a “deliberate decision,” which he was a part of making.
