DALLAS — Malik Faisal Akram knew his plans were most likely in vain after he armed himself and took four people hostage in a Colleyville synagogue on Saturday, demanding the release of a federal prisoner nearby.
But he was still ready to die, Akram said in a phone call during the 11-hour standoff, a portion of which was posted online by The Jewish Chronicle, a London-based newspaper.
The Chronicle said it obtained the 11-minute recording from a security source, whom it did not name. Authorities have not confirmed that the recording is authentic.
“Yeah I’m in America, thought I’d kiss my last goodbye to you,” Akram said to another man in the phone call. The Chronicle identified the other man on the line as Akram’s brother, Gulbar Akram. The New York Times reported that Gulbar Akram spoke with his brother on the phone under the supervision of British police during the incident.
The phone call apparently takes place in the early hours of the standoff; Akram said he had “four beautiful guys, Jewish guys, with me.” Four people were taken hostage during a service at the synagogue Saturday morning. An elderly male hostage was released about 5 p.m.
About 11 hours into the standoff, the three remaining hostages escaped out of a side door after Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker threw a chair at Akram.
All four of the hostages were unharmed. Akram was killed when an FBI team stormed the building shortly after the hostages’ escape. Authorities have not said whether Akram was killed by law enforcement or whether he turned his gun on himself.
Gulbar Akram asked his brother why he decided to take hostages, and reminded him that doing so was a sin. That statement appeared to anger Malik Akram, who reiterated his demand for the release of Aafia Siddiqui.
Siddiqui is serving an 86-year prison sentence for assault and attempted murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan in 2008. While authorities have not yet said why Akram, who flew to America from Britain more than two weeks before taking the hostages, chose Congregation Beth Israel, Akram noted in the phone call that the synagogue is near Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, where Siddiqui is imprisoned.
“I’m bombed up, I’ve got [expletive] every ammunition, I’ve only been here two weeks and I’ve got them all at gunpoint,” Malik Akram told his brother. “I’m gonna die. I’ve told them I’ll release these four guys, I’ll come on the yard and I’ll have a toe-to-toe with you. Shoot me dead, shoot her dead.”
He said he didn’t want his sons to cry at his funeral. Akram had apparently spoken with his sons on the phone earlier during the standoff.
Hours later, British police arrested two teenagers as part of their investigation, and NBC News reported the teens were Akram’s sons. Both were released without charges days later.
A member of Congregation Beth Israel steps out of White’s Chapel United Methodist Church in Southlake, Monday, January 17, 2022. The synagogue held a healing service for congregants and members of the community at the church after the hostage crisis at Congregation Beth Israel on Saturday.
“I’m telling you, either you come for it or they send it, I’m coming back home in a body bag,” Malik Akram said. " I’d rather live one day as a lion than 100 years as a jackal.”
When Gulbar Akram told his brother that his death would not prompt Siddiqui’s release, Malik Akram responded with, “Who gives a [expletive]?”
After his brother told him the hostages were innocent and pleaded with him to turn himself in, Malik Akram went on a long, expletive-filled rant about American intervention overseas. He ended the call by saying, “Anyway, I’m getting off.”
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