Brother of Texas synagogue gunman urged him to surrender in final phone call

The brother of the British man who took four people hostage during an attack on Texas synagogue pleaded with his brother to surrender during their final phone call, it had been revealed.

During the audio recording of their call, obtained by the Jewish Chronicle, Malik Faisal Akram tells his brother he wants to “go down as a martyr” and he had “come to die.”

Mr Akram, 44, originally from Blackburn, was shot dead by law enforcement after taking hostages at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, on Saturday.

Two men have since been arrested in Birmingham and Manchester as part of the investigation into the Texas synagogue attack by British hostage-taker Malik Faisal Akram, Greater Manchester Police have confirmed.

In the clip, his brother Gulbar can be heard trying to talk Akram into surrendering, telling him that his hostages are innocent people and asking him to think about his children.

“I’ve only been here two weeks and I’ve got them all at gunpoint,” Akram said.

“I’m coming back home in a body bag.”

Akram also tells his brother: “I’ve prayed to Allah for two years for this.”

The Jewish Chronicle have said the clip was supplied by a security source. Experts believe the recording of the phone call to be genuine.

During the phone call, the gunman can be heard giving an increasingly incoherent antisemitic rant. He goes onto target US military presence in the Middle East and calls for the release of Pakistani neuroscientist Aafia Siddiqui, serving an 86-year prison sentence in Fort Worth over attempts to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan.

The gunman had links to the Blackburn, Burnage and Manchester areas, and flew into New York’s John F Kennedy airport around two weeks ago.

President Joe Biden said he spent at least one night in a homeless shelter and purchased the gun used in the attack “on the street”.

Counter Terror Policing North West arrest two teenagers in Manchester on Sunday night, in relation to the attack, but gave no further details. In total, four men in the UK have been arrested in connection to the incident.