Manchester Synagogue Attacker Had Been Released on Bail for Alleged Rape When Attack Occurred
The individual who carried out the violent assault at a Jewish house of worship in Manchester was free on police bail related to an accusation of sexual assault at the time, as per reports.
The attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, who was 35 years old, was being probed for the reported sexual assault that is said to have happened earlier this year.
The attacker, who was born in Syria, is also thought to have a record of criminal offenses, however he had not drawn attention from anti-terror authorities.
Shamie was fatally shot by responding police after he killed a Jewish man and caused serious harm to several other people during the attack at the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester's northern area on Thursday.
Two men, 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz, lost their lives in the attack. One of them succumbed to a round discharged by officers aimed at Shamie.
Counter-terrorism police and intelligence agencies are currently investigating the assailant's history, with indications that he selected the holiest day in Judaism, the most sacred day in the Jewish year, to target worshippers.
Even though Shamie had not been flagged to anti-terror organizations or referred to the anti-radicalisation scheme Prevent, he had faced prosecution for prior crimes.
The exact timing the reported rape occurred, but Shamie was on bail while being investigated by local law enforcement.
An insider stated that he had additional prior offenses, albeit for less serious crimes unrelated to terrorism.
“No one suspected him of terrorism but he certainly possessed a history of crime, though no indication he was going to do anything like this,” an informant remarked.
Police are examining whether Shamie sent a threatening message to a former Conservative MP in 2012.
The email to John Howell came from someone identifying as “Jihad Alshamie” and stated, “It is people like you who deserve to die.”
The former MP, who left his position as MP for Henley in 2024, expressed uncertainty if it was the identical individual and believed that authorities did not treat the threat against his life with adequate seriousness at the time.
A news report from 2012 suggested that Howell was likely targeted due to his support for Israel.
“I don’t want to seem overdramatic, but you have to take seriously a menacing message when it says, ‘I would like to see you dead,’” Howell said in 2012, according to coverage by the Jerusalem Post.
“It is not just a question of me, it is my family and my staff. All it takes is one person out there who is weird enough, with a warped perspective of life, to make an attempt to act on it.” He added that local police had given him “extremely good security advice.”
Law enforcement have yet to verify whether the “Jihad Alshamie” who contacted Howell is the identical person who committed the assault on the synagogue, but they are exploring a potential connection.
Shabana Mahmood, Shabana Mahmood, said that the attacker was not under ongoing scrutiny by anti-terror units or intelligence services when the incident. They had no reason to think he had previously been on their radar, though inquiries were still ongoing.
