Who is the British citizen of Syrian descent accused of synagogue terror attack?

The suspect behind the deadly car and knife terror attack outside a synagogue in Manchester in the United Kingdom on Thursday has been identified by police as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent.

Police said Al-Shamie entered the United Kingdom as a young child and became a citizen in 2006. He had no previous criminal record. Al-Shamie translates into English as “the Syrian,” and authorities are unsure whether that is his birth name.

The Metropolitan Police in London declared the assault a terrorist attack. It came on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, as large crowds of worshipers gathered at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, an Orthodox synagogue. 

The attacker’s exact motive is still being probed by police. 

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Neighbors of the attacker in the Manchester suburb of Prestwich, a couple of miles from the synagogue, said Al-Shamie’s family had lived in a house there for years. Several described seeing Al-Shamie lifting weights and working out in the backyard.

Geoff Halliwell, who lives nearby, told The Associated Press that he appeared to be “a straightforward, ordinary lad.”

Al-Shamie is accused of ramming a car into pedestrians outside the synagogue at around 9:30 a.m. local time and then attacking them with a knife. He wore what appeared to be an explosives belt, which was found to be fake.

Armed police declared a major incident and opened fire minutes later, killing the suspect. 

Two people died, and four others were injured during the incident.

In an update, police said that Al-Shamie was not armed and that one of the deceased victims suffered a gunshot wound likely from police gunfire during the response. One hospitalized victim also suffered a gunshot wound, police said.

The dead victims were named as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, both from Crumpsall.

Police arrested three people Thursday on suspicion of the preparation or commission of acts of terrorism. They are two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s.

Video on social media showed police with guns pointed at a person lying on the tarmac beneath a blue Star of David on the brick building.

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A bystander could be heard on the video saying the man had a bomb and was trying to push a button. When the man tried to stand up, a gunshot rang out and he fell to the ground, flopped on his back and then rolled onto his side.

In a televised address, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the assault as a “vile terrorist attack that attacked Jews, because they are Jews.”

“Antisemitism is a hatred that is rising, once again. Britain must defeat it, once again,” Starmer said. “To every Jewish person in this country: I promise that I will do everything in my power to guarantee you the security you deserve.”

Antisemitic incidents in the U.K. have soared following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing military campaign in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group for British Jews that works to eliminate antisemitism.

More than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the year, the second-highest reported since the record set a year earlier.

Fox News’ Simon Owen and The Associated Press contributed to this story.