Police name Manchester attacker who killed two at synagogue

October 2, 2025

Police name Manchester attacker who killed two at synagogue

The man who carried out an attack at a synagogue in Manchester which left two people dead has been named by police.

The attacker, Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British man described as being of Syrian decent, was shot dead outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, at about 09:40 BST.

Two men were killed and three others injured when a car was driven at people outside the temple and before people were attacked with a knife.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said three people had been arrested – two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s – as part of the investigation into what has been declared a "terrorist incident" by police.

A spokesman for GMP said a suspicious device worn by the attacker during the incident was assessed and found not to be a viable explosive.

The spokesman added: "Based on what we currently know, our records do not show any previous Prevent referrals relating to this individual."

The incident unfolded shortly after 09:30 on Yom Kippur - the holiest day in the Jewish calendar - when a car was driven at the building.

Eyewitnesses described how security staff prevented the attacker from getting into the synagogue.

Video footage from the scene showed armed officers pointing their weapons at a man on the ground, shooting him as he tried to get up off the ground.

They warned crowds the man "had a bomb on him" and urged them to back away.

The officers, synagogue security and its rabbi, Daniel Walker, were commended by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer from preventing a worse tragedy.

Speaking from Downing Street after a Cobra emergency committee meeting, Starmer condemned the "terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews".