One of two victims in Manchester synagogue attack may have been killed
by a bullet fired by police
[October 03, 2025]
By DANICA KIRKA, KWIYEON HA and JILL LAWLESS
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Police say one of two victims in Manchester
synagogue attack may have been killed by a bullet fired by police.
Greater Manchester Police chief Stephen Watson says a forensic examiner
“has provisionally determined, that one of the deceased victims would
appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury.”
He said the attacker did not have a gun and the only shots fired were by
police.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Police on Friday identified the two men who
were killed in a car and knife attack on a synagogue in northwest
England on the holiest day of the Jewish year, as Britain’s chief rabbi
said an “unrelenting wave” of antisemitism lay behind the crime.
Greater Manchester Police said local residents Adrian Daulby, 53, and
Melvin Cravitz, 66, died in the attack on the Heaton Park Congregation
Synagogue in the Manchester suburb of Crumpsall. Three other people are
hospitalized in serious condition.
Police shot and killed a suspect seven minutes after he rammed a car
into pedestrians outside the synagogue on Thursday morning and then
attacked them with a knife. He wore what appeared to be an explosives
belt, which was found to be fake.
The assault took place as people gathered at the Orthodox synagogue on
Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the most solemn day in the Jewish
calendar.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the head of Orthodox Judaism in Britain,
said the attack was the result of “an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred” on
the streets and online.
“This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we
knew would come,” he wrote on social media.
Attacker was not known to police
Police identified the attacker as Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British
citizen of Syrian descent who entered the United Kingdom as a young
child and became a citizen in 2006. Al-Shamie translates into English as
“the Syrian,” and authorities are unsure whether that is his birth name.
Police said the crime is being investigated as a terrorist attack. Home
Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the attacker was not previously known to
police or to Prevent, a national counterterror program that tries to
identify people at risk of radicalization.
Mahmood said "it’s too early to say” whether the attacker acted alone or
was part of a cell.
Police said they are still probing the attacker’s motive. Officers
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.
Religious and political leaders condemned the attack and pledged to
reassure Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000.
[to top of second column]
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Emergency service workers at the scene of a stabbing incident at
Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, in Crumpsall, Manchester,
England, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)
Police said extra officers would be on the streets of Manchester on
Friday and through the weekend to reassure the community.
Recorded antisemitic incidents in the U.K. have risen sharply since
Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and Israel’s ensuing war against
Hamas in Gaza, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group
for British Jews. More than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first
half of the year, the second-highest six-month total reported since the
record set over the same period a year earlier.
Calls for pro-Palestinian protests to be canceled
Prime Minister Keir Starmer denounced the “vile” assailant who “attacked
Jews because they are Jews.” He promised British Jews that he would do
“everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve.”
He said the country would come together "to wrap our arms around your
community and show you that Britain is a place where you and your family
are safe, secure and belong.”
Some politicians and religious leaders claimed pro-Palestinian
demonstrations, which have been held regularly since the war in Gaza
began, had played a role in spreading hatred of Jews. Some say chants
such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” incite
violence. Others, including Jews who support the protests, say they want
a ceasefire, an end to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza and the
release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Mirvis, the chief rabbi, urged authorities to “get a grip on these
demonstrations. They are dangerous.”
“You cannot separate the words on our streets, the actions of people in
this way, and what inevitably results, which was yesterday’s terrorist
attack," he told the BBC.
Mahmood, the home secretary, said 40 people were arrested on Thursday
evening at protests that were unrelated to the synagogue attack and were
organized in response to the Israeli navy's interception of a flotilla
attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
She said it was “dishonorable” that the protests had not been canceled
after the Manchester attack.
Police in London urged organizers to call off a protest planned for
Saturday to oppose the banning of the group Palestine Action. Organizers
said they would not cancel the demonstration.
___
Lawless reported from London.
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