Police said the unidentified suspect was killed after being shot firearms officers, just seven minutes after they had been called to the incident at the synagogue. Police said they think they know his identity but believe it is “premature” to currently name him.
The incident took place as people gathered at the synagogue on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.
In a series of posts on X, Greater Manchester Police said they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall shortly after 9:30 a.m. by a member of the public, who said he had witnessed a car being driven toward members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.
Shots were fired by firearms officers minutes later, police said.
“One man has been shot, believed to be the offender,” it added.
Police initially said four other people were being treated for injuries caused by both the vehicle and stab wounds. They later updated the number of victims to five.
The U.K. has traditionally been a safe area for Jewish people though antisemitic incidents in the U.K. have soared following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza, according to the Community Security Trust, which monitors antisemitism in the U.K. 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. Starmer acknowledged that antisemitism is “a hatred that is rising once again, and Britain must defeat it once again.”
