Terrorist shot dead after taking hostages at Texas synagogue is named as 44-year-old from Blackburn: Gunman Malik Akram's 'devastated' brother condemns attack and blames 'mental health issues' as Liz Truss slams 'act of anti-Semitism'
FBI identifies Texas synagogue shooter as 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, who is originally from Blackburn
His brother, Gulbar, liaised with suspect in FBI incident room, blamed mental health issues for Faisal's actions
US President Joe Biden condemned Akram's actions as an 'act of terror' during a PR event in Philadelphia
All four hostages have been released after the terrorist was shot and police stormed the Texas synagogue
Several gunshots were heard at around 9pm CST after a hostage was released and SWAT team stormed in
Dramatic footage captured the moment two of three remaining hostages ran out of the temple, with the gun totting terrorist right behind them before he quickly retreated inside after seeing the nearby SWAT team
A SWAT team had been deployed and the FBI was negotiating with him as the standoff entered hour eleven
Akram had demanded the release of 'Lady Al Qaeda' Aafia Siddiqui, who is serving 86 years at FMC Carswell, New York for the attempted murder of US military personnel, according to an ABC News report
By Jacob Thorburn and Stephen Wynn-davies For Mailonline and Alyssa Guzman and Ronny Reyes For Dailymail.Com
Published: 13:17 EST, 16 January 2022 | Updated: 13:51 EST, 16 January 2022
The family of the British terrorist who was shot dead after taking four people hostage inside a Texas synagogue have tonight condemned his actions as they admitted to 'liasing' with the shooter during his 10-hour stand-off with police.
Malik Faisal Akram, 44, was shot dead by the FBI's elite Hostage Rescue Team after holding four hostages for more than 10 hours at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas on Saturday.
His 'devastated' brother Gulbar Akram shared a message on social media in which he revealed he had been working with the FBI and 'liasing' with his sibling throughout the stand-off. He also apologised and blamed 'mental health issues' for Malik's actions.
Gulbar wrote: 'It is with great great sadness I will confirm my brother Faisal passed away in Texas, USA this morning. We are absolutely devastated as a family. We can’t say much now as their is an ongoing FBI investigation.
'We would like to say that we as a family do not condone any of his actions and would like to sincerely apologize wholeheartedly to all the victims involved in the unfortunate incident.
'Sitting in the incident room all last night at Greenbank until the early hours liaising with Faisal , the negotiators, FBI etc. And although my brother was suffering from mental health issues we were confident that he would not harm the hostages.
'There was nothing we could have said to him or done that would have convinced him to surrender.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10408425/Blackburn-terrorist-Brother-Faisal-Akram-blames-mental-health-struggles-shooters-actions.html