Counter-terrorism officers said that Jihad al-Shamie pledged allegiance to the Islamic State in a phone call to police during last week’s synagogue attack, British police revealed in a statement Wednesday.
At the outset of last Thursday’s attack outside Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on Yom Kippur, the assailant called police and “claimed to pledge allegiance to the so-called Islamic State,” according to a statement from Counter Terrorism Policing North West.
Police said the call was made after al-Shamie first approached the Heaton Park synagogue, where worshippers and volunteer guards told him to leave. He then returned in a car, driving into pedestrians before getting out and continuing the assault with a knife.
Greater Manchester Police reported that Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, both from Crumpsall, were killed in the attack in their Manchester suburb.
Worshippers barricaded the synagogue doors, and officers arrived seven minutes after the attack began to find al-Shamie attempting to stab his way through a window. Al-Shamie was shot dead at the scene, but a member of the local Jewish community was also killed when a bullet intended for the attacker penetrated the synagogue’s front door.
Al-Shamie, 35, was also revealed to have three wives, as first reported by The Daily Telegraph. One of them, a 38-year-old white Muslim convert, claimed she endured a three-year abusive marriage during which he raped her multiple times.
He was also married to a British Pakistani woman, with whom he fathered three children. His third wife stated they married in January 2022 through an online Islamic ceremony after meeting on the Muslim dating app Muzz, formerly known as Muzmatch.
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