A large contingent of federal agents, local police, and U.K. counterterrorism authorities are working to determine how the British man who took four hostages at a Colleyville synagogue Saturday made his way from Northern England to Texas.
Federal law enforcement officials told NBC 5 and NBC News that Malik Faisal Akram entered the United States through JFK International Airport in New York on Dec. 29.
In New York, a senior law enforcement official told WNBC’s chief investigative reporter, Jonathan Dienst, Akram was not on any sort of watch list when he arrived in December. The official said immigration authorities questioned Akram for several minutes at JFK Airport. He reportedly told them he was visiting and planned to stay at a hotel in Queens, NY.
Investigators are now trying to determine if Akram went to that hotel or not.
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Standoff at Congregation Beth Israel
OurCalling, a Dallas homeless shelter, confirmed Monday that Akram stayed there one night on Jan. 2 suggesting he arrived in Dallas at least two weeks before the attack on the Colleyville synagogue. OurCalling said in a statement the shelter has turned over surveillance camera photos and videos of Akram to the FBI.
OurCalling CEO Wayne Walker said Akram was dropped off by a man, and the two seemed to know each other because they embraced.
The FBI was trying to identify that man, Walker said. The FBI declined comment.
The CEO of another Dallas shelter, the Union Gospel Mission, told NBC 5 that federal and local law enforcement had instructed the shelter not to discuss the case. CNN reported earlier that Union Gospel Mission had confirmed Akram had stayed there during his time in Dallas.
Speaking to reporters Sunday, President Joe Biden indicated he had been briefed on Akram’s use of homeless shelters in the days before the attack.
“He apparently spent the first night in a homeless shelter. I don't have all the detail yet so I'm reluctant to go into more - much more detail,” Biden said.
Officials have been reluctant to release more details of their investigation into how Akram traveled from New York to Dallas because they are still in the process of gathering information. Agents are now working across the globe from Dallas to New York to the UK trying to learn more about Akram, a British citizen who lived near Blackburn, England.
A federal law enforcement official briefed on the case told NBC 5 the pace of the investigation has not slowed down since the incident Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the ATF is still working to learn more about where Akram obtained the gun he used to take hostages. A law enforcement official with knowledge of the situation told NBC 5 Investigates agents are still in the process of tracing that weapon.
FBI HRT SHOT ARMED MAN AFTER HOSTAGES ESCAPED
Late Monday, there are also new details coming out about what happened inside the synagogue as the standoff came to an end. A senior law enforcement official told NBC News Akram was shot by the FBI’s hostage rescue team and that the use of force was warranted.
Officials had declined to release that detail earlier because an internal review of the shooting is underway -- which is standard procedure.
It's still unclear how many shots were fired or whether there was an exchange of gunfire between Akram and the FBI agents.
Earlier in the day, two of the hostages, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and Jeffrey Cohen, shared respective stories of their escape from the armed man. Cohen said on Facebook Cytron-Walker yelled to run as he threw a chair at the gunman, giving them time to escape out a nearby door.
NBC 5's Eva Parks contributed to this report.
