Law enforcement in a small town in Texas, United States, were negotiating on Saturday with a man who appeared to have taken several people hostage at a synagogue, according to police and local media.
• Read also: Stewart Rhodes, the far-right leader ready to launch a “civil war” in the United States
• Read also: Rights of detained migrants up for debate at US Supreme Court
ABC News, citing a source on site, reported that the suspect was armed, holding four people hostage, including a rabbi, and claimed to have planted bombs at unknown locations.
Police in Colleyville, near Dallas, said late in the morning that an intervention force operation was underway at an address corresponding to the synagogue of Congregation Beth Israel.
The voice of an agitated man at times could be heard on the broadcast of the religious service live on Facebook, consulted by AFP.
“I’m going to die,” said this man, who repeatedly asked an unidentified interlocutor for his sister to be on the phone.
The suspect, according to ABC News, claims to be the brother of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist sentenced in 2010 by a New York federal court to 86 years in prison for attempting to shoot US service members while in custody. Afghanistan. He is calling for his release, the channel reported, citing an official familiar with the matter on condition of anonymity.
According to the same source, she is incarcerated at the Carswell military base, also not far from Dallas.
“The negotiators have contacted this person and are working towards a safe outcome,” Colleyville Police Sgt. Dara Nelson told The Dallas Morning News of the alleged hostage taker.
Colleyville police said they are evacuating nearby residents.
The incident was still ongoing as of 2:20 p.m. local time (8:20 p.m. GMT), police said, asking the public to avoid the area.
The live broadcast, interrupted at 1:50 p.m. (7:50 p.m. GMT), showed only a lectern, the people inside the synagogue being out of frame.
“There is something wrong with America,” the man also said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted that Israeli Consul in Houston Livia Link was visiting the scene.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with our brothers and sisters held hostage in a synagogue in Texas,” he tweeted in Hebrew.