WEATHER ALERT

A year later, Texas synagogue hostages cope, carry on

Advertisement

Advertise with us

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — A year ago, Jeff Cohen and three others survived a hostage standoff at their Reform Jewish synagogue in this Fort Worth suburb.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Monthly Digital Subscription

$1 per week for 24 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*Billed as $4 plus GST every four weeks. Offer only available to new and qualified returning subscribers. Cancel any time.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/01/2023 (762 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

COLLEYVILLE, Texas (AP) — A year ago, Jeff Cohen and three others survived a hostage standoff at their Reform Jewish synagogue in this Fort Worth suburb.

Their trauma did not disappear, though, with the FBI’s killing of the pistol-wielding captor, 44-year-old British national Malik Faisal Akram.

Healing from the Jan. 15, 2022, ordeal remains an ongoing process.

In this Dec. 22, 2022, photo, Lawrence Schwartz poses for a photo inside of Congregation Beth Israel, in Colleyville, Texas. A year ago, a rabbi and three others survived a hostage standoff at their synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. Their trauma did not disappear, though, with the FBI's killing of the pistol-wielding captor. Healing from the Jan. 15, 2022, ordeal is ongoing. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
In this Dec. 22, 2022, photo, Lawrence Schwartz poses for a photo inside of Congregation Beth Israel, in Colleyville, Texas. A year ago, a rabbi and three others survived a hostage standoff at their synagogue in Colleyville, Texas. Their trauma did not disappear, though, with the FBI's killing of the pistol-wielding captor. Healing from the Jan. 15, 2022, ordeal is ongoing. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

“Let’s be blunt: We’re healing. We’re not healed,” said Cohen, 58, a Lockheed Martin engineer who serves as president of Congregation Beth Israel and its 140-family membership.

The 10-hour standoff ended about 9 p.m. that Saturday as the remaining hostages — including Cohen — escaped and the FBI’s tactical team gunned down Akram.

The violence left the synagogue with broken doors and windows, shattered glass and bullet holes. Within three months, repairs had been made and the congregation returned. But one year later, deep wounds still fester.

“We have a lot of people who are still feeling it bad,” Cohen said as two fellow hostages, Lawrence Schwartz and Shane Woodward, nodded affirmatively in a group interview at the synagogue. “We have parents who aren’t very comfortable bringing their kids to Sunday school.

“We’re forever changed,” he added. “We’ve had to get used to having security here all the time.”

The recent upsurge in antisemitic rhetoric and actions nationally has intensified both the congregation’s traumatic feelings and its resolve to move forward without fear, said Anna Salton Eisen, a founder of the synagogue and author of books about her parents surviving the Holocaust.

“After the hostage crisis, I’m inspired to go out and try to use this, along with the Holocaust, as an inspiration to fight hate,” Eisen said.

It all started with a knock at the door. On a cold, windy Saturday, a man who appeared homeless showed up outside Beth Israel.

The stranger immediately unsettled Schwartz, who was helping Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker prepare for the morning Shabbat service.

“I said, ‘I don’t like this,’” recalled the retired accountant, 87, who helped lead security for his previous synagogue. “I said, ‘Charlie, don’t open the door.’ He went ahead and opened it.”

The temperature hovered near freezing and the wind made it feel even colder. Cytron-Walker showed the stranger compassion — as his Jewish faith calls him to do — and invited Akram inside. They chatted and the rabbi made him tea.

Akram had spent time in Dallas-area homeless shelters, but the cold wasn’t why he wanted to come in the synagogue.

“I had no indication that he was intending to do us harm until I heard the click of a gun, which was an hour after I met him,” said Cytron-Walker, 47, who had served at Beth Israel for 16 years.

That click came at about 11 a.m. as Cytron-Walker prayed facing the front of the sanctuary.

The weather and the COVID-19 pandemic made for a light in-person crowd that day. While an unknown number watched online, just three besides the rabbi came in person: Cohen, Schwartz and Woodward, who arrived a few minutes late.

Woodward, 47, listened to the first part of the service via Zoom on his drive. He heard Cytron-Walker mention the guest.

After taking a seat, Woodward noticed Akram.

“I did hear a lot of fidgeting going on. He was kind of rustling around back there,” said Woodward, who works for PepsiCo. “I waved to him, and he was very polite. He waved back. He smiled, nodded. … We were in the middle of praying when it happened.”

During the standoff, Akram demanded the release of a Pakistani woman serving a lengthy prison sentence in Fort Worth after being convicted of trying to kill U.S. troops.

The hostages said Akram cited antisemitic stereotypes, believing that Jews wield the kind of power that could get the woman released.

“At CBI with a gunman,” Cohen posted on Facebook. “If I don’t get out, remember me. Fight hate.”

Schwartz apparently reminded Akram of his father, and the gunman started calling him “Dad.” At one point, he got his captor’s permission to use the restroom.

“He said, ‘I’ll let you go, but if you don’t come back, I’m going to kill these three guys,’” Schwartz recalled.

About six hours into the standoff, his fellow hostages told Schwartz, who has hearing problems, to leave. He didn’t understand at first. But they had talked Akram into releasing him.

Initially, Schwartz was upset. He didn’t want to leave them behind, but later realized they stood a better chance without him.

“I’m not able to move very fast,” Schwartz said. “They could run. But not me.”

Woodward grew up Baptist but was in the process of converting to Judaism. As the standoff dragged on, he remarked, “Rabbi, I’m still converting.”

“There is no guarantee that we were getting out of there, and this is what was going through his mind,” Cytron-Walker said with a chuckle. “Jeff turned around and said, ‘What?’ Since we all got out, it’s really one of the humorous moments.”

Hours later, Akram was becoming more agitated.

The hostages’ fears that he would shoot them increased.

“He was yelling at the negotiator, and when he hung up, he got really calm,” Cytron-Walker said. “He turned to us, and I thought that we were going to die. He asked us for some juice.”

After Cytron-Walker walked to the kitchen, Akram decided he wanted a soda instead. The rabbi returned with a can of soda and a plastic cup.

That’s when the chance to escape came.

“He was holding on to the liquid with one hand,” Cytron-Walker said. “For the first time all day, he did not have his hand on the trigger.”

The rabbi yelled “Run!” and threw a chair at Akram. They escaped through a side door.

Simultaneously and unknown to the hostages, the FBI team entered the building to attempt a rescue. Like the rabbi, the authorities were concerned about Akram’s state of mind.

The hostages say Akram attempted to shoot at them as they ran but his pistol misfired.

“I know God was with us,” Woodward said.

Before the standoff, Cytron-Walker had already interviewed for a new job as rabbi at Temple Emanuel in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The hostage crisis delayed that process, but he started his new job in July.

Even 1,100 miles away, “the events of Jan. 15 continue to impact almost every aspect of my life,” he said.

From his sermon topics to his speaking engagements on antisemitism to his recent opportunity to light the menorah at the White House’s Hanukkah reception, the hostage crisis figures heavily, Cytron-Walker said.

“I’m not having nightmares or anything that would resemble PTSD,” he said. “I never know if that could come up at some point in time, but I’m very thankful that it hasn’t as of yet.”

A year later, the hostages urge other houses of worship to take security training seriously. Cytron-Walker credits it with getting out safely.

But next time, Schwartz said, he would act on his concern and call 911.

“I don’t care if the congregation wants to throw me out. I don’t care if the rabbi never wants to talk to me again,” said Schwartz, who now wears a custom-made yarmulke with the message “Stronger Than Hate” on the back. “I should have operated on my thoughts, and I didn’t.”

But Cytron-Walker said he does not regret abiding by his faith.

“He looked like he was a homeless man, and I continue to live with the fact that I was fooled,” he said. “We have to be able to live our values even when they’re hard.”

___

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

Report Error Submit a Tip

The Free Press acknowledges the financial support it receives from members of the city’s faith community, which makes our coverage of religion possible.

More Stories

GoFundMe created to help Manitoba curler Briane Harris cover legel fees

Joshua Frey-Sam 6 minute read Preview

GoFundMe created to help Manitoba curler Briane Harris cover legel fees

Joshua Frey-Sam 6 minute read Yesterday at 11:17 PM UTC

Petersfield residents have launched a GoFundMe campaign on behalf of local professional curler Briane Harris to help ease the financial hardship she has endured fighting her ban from competitive curling.

Harris, a four-time Canadian champion lead with Kerri Einarson’s team, served a provisional suspension that dragged on 11 months after testing positive for trace amounts of an illegal substance, Ligandrol, a year ago.

Harris finally won her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month — it ruled she bore no fault or negligence for being exposed to the banned substance, which her husband passed along — but was left with thousands of dollars in legal fees.

The idea to raise money had been floated a few times as people learned of the hefty bill Harris incurred, but it never got off the ground until Dianne Grocholski, a longtime family friend, acted on it.

Read
Yesterday at 11:17 PM UTC
JONAS EKSTROMER / TT NEWS AGENCY VIA AP FILES Petersfield residents have created an online fundraiser to help Briane Harris cover legal fees incurred fighting doping charges.

Opinion: Marriage is only as mundane as you make it

Maureen Scurfield 5 minute read Saturday, Jan 4, 2025

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My husband is making annoying new year’s resolutions for me. He just told me he wants me to resolve to quit drinking after work with my friends, on our two weekly girls’ nights out. He also wants me to start making our dinners at home every night.

I just laughed and said, “Who am I now, your mother? We’re not even 25 years old yet. Plus, you’re a better cook than I am, and I don’t really get home from work any earlier than you do.” (He finishes at 5:45 p.m. and comes straight home, while I clock out at 5:30, and usually stop for a few groceries and then we walk in the door at pretty much the same time.)

He was mad, but had no reply. So, I threw a pizza in the oven and made us a salad.

The next night, I got home later than usual, on purpose, and there was no dinner made. He just said, “Why don’t I go back to playing poker with my buddies on Wednesday and Saturday nights, and have dinner with them?”

Why was Taylor Swift booed at the Super Bowl?

Dave Skretta And Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 9 minute read Preview

Why was Taylor Swift booed at the Super Bowl?

Dave Skretta And Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press 9 minute read Sunday, Feb 9, 2025

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — There was no on-field celebration for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce after this Super Bowl. Only consolation far away from the prying TV cameras.

The pop superstar turned up at the big game for the second consecutive year as her boyfriend and the Kansas City Chiefs tried to make history by winning a third consecutive Lombardi Trophy. Instead, Swift found herself booed by a pro-Eagles crowd and then had to endure their countless cheers as Philadelphia rolled to a 40-22 victory at the Superdome.

Last year, Swift and Kelce locked lips on the field at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas as red and gold confetti fell like rain after the Chiefs won their second straight Super Bowl — the duo's first since becoming a sports-and-music power couple.

That was a celebratory affair for Swift all night: She won a beer-chugging contest to raucous cheers from the pro-Chiefs crowd, and she spent the game partying with celebrity friends including Blake Lively and Lana Del Rey.

Read
Sunday, Feb 9, 2025
A person wearing a Taylor Swift shirt walks in the French Quarter before the NFL Super Bowl 59 football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Feb. 9, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Edmonton man out of coma after assault at Dominican Republic resort bar

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

Edmonton man out of coma after assault at Dominican Republic resort bar

Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Friday, Feb 7, 2025

EDMONTON - An Edmonton man who was attacked in a resort bar in the Dominican Republic is out of a coma in hospital.

Cindy Rowan says she's relieved her son, Chase Delorme-Rowan, is also talking for the first time since Jan. 14, when he was slammed to the ground during a family vacation celebrating his 18th birthday.

She says doctors are still trying to figure out when they can replace a piece of his skull that was removed to allow his swollen brain room to recover — then tossed away.

Read
Friday, Feb 7, 2025
Chase Delorme-Rowan is shown in a handout photo taken in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The Edmonton man, who was assaulted in a bar in the Dominican Republic, is out of a coma. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Cindy Rowan **MANDATORY CREDIT**

What's next, a 'throuple with Mexico'? Late-night mocks Trump's '51st state' comments

The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

What's next, a 'throuple with Mexico'? Late-night mocks Trump's '51st state' comments

The Canadian Press 5 minute read Friday, Jan 10, 2025

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump has been brandishing threats about turning Canada into the 51st state — something Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says is a diversion tactic to distract from the very real threat of a proposed 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods.

Trump's comments have certainly caught the attention of the figureheads of one of America's more venerated institutions: late-night talk shows. Here's what the hosts had to say about it earlier this week:

LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS:

Read
Friday, Jan 10, 2025
Seth Meyers arrives at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Jae C. Hong

HSC Canada’s worst-performing hospital, some Manitoba health care no better under NDP: nurses union report

Tyler Searle 8 minute read Preview

HSC Canada’s worst-performing hospital, some Manitoba health care no better under NDP: nurses union report

Tyler Searle 8 minute read Yesterday at 11:51 PM UTC

Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre has earned the dismal distinction of being the worst-performing hospital in Canada.

The province’s largest hospital has the highest standardized mortality ratio in the country, according to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

That, and more, was revealed Wednesday in a report released by the Manitoba Nurses Union that charged “no measurable progress has been observed” in some facets of health care since the New Democratic Party took power in the fall of 2023.

The 36-page report — dubbed the White Paper — takes aim at the provincial government, which took issue with the document and said it failed to account for ongoing system improvements or those already completed.

Read
Yesterday at 11:51 PM UTC
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS FILES The Health Sciences centre