Colleyville synagogue recalls hostage situation a year later

COLLYVILLE, Texas. Tucked away in the Collyville area is a safe place that was filled with terror a year ago.

January 15 marks one year since a gunman infiltrated Beth Israel and took four people hostage during a live Sabbath service.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, Jeff Cohen, Shane Woodward and Larry Schwartz were under gunpoint in the synagogue as suspects, Malik Faisal Akram demanded the release of Aafia Siddiqi, a convicted terrorist held in Fort Worth.

“It was tough,” Cytron-Walker told WFAA’s Adriana De Alba during a sit-down interview a few days before the anniversary.

Cytron-Walker has since moved into a synagogue in North Carolina, which was planned before the hostage standoff occurred.

“I will never be the same person I was before that day,” Woodward said.

On that Saturday morning a year ago, Cytron-Walker greeted Akram with hot tea and conversation. Akram told them that he was looking for asylum. His story seemed to come true, Cytron-Walker said.

Then Akram turned to them. Cytron-Walker heard the click of a gun and an 11-hour hostage standoff unfolded.

“He threatened us all this time,” Woodward said. “The gun did not leave the four of us. All this time his finger was on the trigger.

Schwartz, 86, who was recovering from surgery at the time, was the first hostage to be released about six hours after the standoff began.

“He [Akram] called my name and said, “Larry, how are you?” I said, “I need to go to the toilet. He says: “Okay, you’re like my dad, I’ll let you go.”

Newly obtained body camera footage from the Colleyville police shows the moment the police put Schwartz in a safe car and drove him away from the synagogue. Body camera footage shows Schwartz asking officers if he can call his wife to let her know he’s safe.

The remaining three hostages received permission from the hostage-taker to call their loved ones several times throughout the tense situation.

“Those were some of the hardest conversations I’ve ever had,” Cytron-Walker said.

“Mine was, I’m at the CBI (Beth Israel Congregation), there’s a shooter, he says he has a bomb, I love you… remember me,” Cohen said.

Their path to recovery remains difficult, but they have hope.

“The fact that we can share stories with each other is wonderful,” Cytron-Walker said. “It’s healing for me, and it’s gratitude and warmth for me.”

“I would say we are healing, I would not say we are healed,” Cohen said.

Cohen, who has since become president of the Beth Israel congregation, said congregants remain concerned about their safety during large gatherings. Despite the endless cycle of tightening already tight security measures, fear persists in the Congregation.

Anti-Semitism is to blame, they told the WFAA.

Parishioner Anna Eisen, a therapist, writer and daughter of Holocaust survivors, travels the country to speak out against anti-Semitism. She tells the story of what happened in their synagogue on January 15th.

“I don’t feel safe,” Eisen said. “I will feel safe when we don’t need armed guards, because we are Jews. He came to look for the Jews. He hunted the Jews.”

Eisen told the WFAA that she receives daily threats and hate messages from strangers on social media.

“Yes, it was a good result. [on Jan. 15]but it reminds us that it really was a terrible day for the meeting, for this congregation, because we lost our innocence.”

During the standoff, Akram told the hostages that he decided to attack the Jewish synagogue because the US “only cares about the lives of the Jews, and the Jews control the media, the world, and the banks.”

According to Eisen, it was anti-Semitism that drove him to incite violence against their congregation.

“That’s just the problem,” Cohen said. “People hear it often enough that people are starting to absorb it. That’s why it’s so important that the rest of us rise up, and when we hear these things, we challenge them. ”

Through their shared trauma and efforts to end the hatred of the Jewish community, the four formed a unique bond.

Cytron-Walker remains the hero rabbi who saved their lives.

“He [Cytron-Walker] shouted run… something that never occurred to any of us. He threw a chair at him and we walked out the door,” Cohen said.

There was no pre-planned exit discussion or agreement.

Exclusive WFAA footage shows the moment Cohen fell as he exited the exit door. He tried to hide, then he heard the shooter come out.

“He really tried to shoot,” Cohen said. “The gun jammed… it all happened in a split second.”

Despite the attack on their congregation, Cytron-Walker told the WFAA that it was their calling to greet a stranger. Several hostages told WFAA that they followed security protocol that day and believed that Akram’s story was legitimate when he first entered the synagogue.

“We need to be able to find ways to do both,” Cytron-Walker said. “Provide both security and find ways to offer that sense of hospitality.”

“We are taught that this is how you treat people,” Cohen said. “Aren’t you worried about whether he belongs to your tribe?” What colour is he? And it’s important to live.”