Texas Rabbi Says He Threw Chair at Synagogue Hostage-Taker Before Escape
‘WE WERE TERRIFIED’
Charlie Cytron-Walker said that he began to plan the escape in the tense final hour of the standoff, making sure he and his fellow hostages were near an exit.
The rabbi held captive for more than 10 hours inside a Colleyville synagogue said he and two other members of his congregation were able to make their escape after he threw a chair at the hostage-taker. Speaking to CBS Mornings, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker explained that their captor, 44-year-old Malik Faisal Akram, had been getting increasingly agitated during the final leg of his standoff with authorities. “The last hour or so… he wasn’t getting what he wanted,” Cytron-Walker said, adding that “it didn’t look good, it didn’t sound good. We were very—we were terrified.” So when the time was right, the rabbi explained, he drew on his FBI hostage training. He made sure the other two hostages were near him and that an exit was nearby. Then, Cytron-Walker said, “I told them to go, I threw a chair at the gunman, and I headed for the door. And all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired.” The FBI’s hostage rescue team entered the Congregation Beth Israel building shortly after the escape, killing Akram.
