Manchester horror deepens as police admit the victim was killed not by the terrorist but by their own gunfire in a desperate moment.NN
One of the two worshippers killed in the terror attack at a UK synagogue on Yom Kippur was shot by police as they took out the knife-wielding terrorist whose first name was Jihad, authorities revealed Friday.
Manchester residents Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were killed Thursday as Jihad Al Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen born in Syria, plowed his car into pedestrians and then went on a stabbing frenzy outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue.
The investigation had since determined that one of the victims was killed by a bullet in the panic to stop the terrorist — who appeared to be wearing a suicide vest — from getting into the synagogue.
Because Al Shamie didn’t have a gun, that means the dead man’s “injury may sadly have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence” of police actions, Greater Manchester Police chief Stephen Watson said.
One of the three hospitalized victims also appeared to have been shot by police, Watson said.
“It is believed that both victims were close together behind the synagogue door, as worshippers acted bravely to prevent the attacker from gaining entry,” Watson said.
Here is the latest on the synagogue attack in Manchester, UK
- Maniac Manchester attacker kills 2, injures more at UK synagogue on Yom Kippur
- Shocking video shows cop frantically warn crowd Manchester attacker ‘has a bomb’ after deadly stabbing, car ramming
- Jihad Al-Shamie ID’d as the UK synagogue terrorist
- Police name 2 victims of Manchester synagogue attack on Yom Kippur
- Synagogue terrorist probed over threat to pol — as officials reveal why his name astonished them
The suspect, whose first name is the term used to describe radical Islamists, was shot dead by cops roughly seven minutes after he rammed the car into bystanders and then attacked them with a knife.
He was wearing what appeared to be an explosives belt at the time, which was later found to be fake.
Lord Carlile, an ex-independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, stressed that the blame for the deaths rests fully on the terrorist, no matter who fired the fatal bullet.
“Police acted extremely promptly and they were very efficient, aided by security guards at the synagogue and in my view it is of course tragic that somebody died in those circumstances,” he told The Times.
“It’s also very good that the chief constable of Greater Manchester has said so at an early stage so that inevitably there can be an examination of those circumstances but I’m confident that it will be shown that this was just a dreadful consequence of a terrible terrorist act.”
Al-Shamie came to the UK as a young child and became a citizen in 2006, authorities said.
His surname translates into English as “the Syrian” but authorities are unsure whether that was his birth name.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who admitted she’d never heard of someone called Jihad, said the attacker wasn’t previously known to police.
She stressed that “it’s too early to say” whether he acted alone or was part of a cell.
Police said they are still probing the attacker’s motive.
Officers arrested three people Thursday on suspicion of the preparation or commission of acts of terrorism, including two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s.
The knifeman’s family, meanwhile, sought to distance themselves from the bloodshed, saying they “strongly condemn this heinous act.”
“The Al-Shami family in the UK and abroad strongly condemns this heinous act, which targeted peaceful, innocent civilians,” they wrote in a statement.
“We fully distance ourselves from this attack and express our deep shock and sorrow over what has happened. Our hearts and thoughts are with the victims and their families, and we pray for their strength and comfort.”
“May God have mercy on the innocent victims, and we pray for the swift recovery of the injured,” they added.
