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Texan who sold gun to synagogue attacker is jailed
Mr Williams admitted to illegally selling a pistol to man 'with a British accent' ahead of shul siege
October 26, 2022 15:56
Mr Williams admitted to illegally selling a pistol to man 'with a British accent' ahead of shul siege
October 26, 2022 15:56The Texas man who sold a British terrorist the pistol he used in a terror attack on a Dallas synagogue has now been jailed for over seven years.
33-year-old Henry "Michael" Dwight Williams sold Blackburn-born Malik Faisal Akram the gun just two days shy of his siege of the Congregation Beth Israel in January.
Mr Akram was fatally shot by Dallas police after taking four Jewish hostages and Mr Williams was arrested 10 days after the attack.
In June, prosecutors said that Mr Williams, who possessed spent convictions for aggravated assault, pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. US Attorney Chad Meacham said that "whether or not” Mr Williams knew of Mr Akram’s intentions “is largely irrelevant - felons cannot have guns, period”.
In a 24 January interview, Mr Williams admitted to selling the weapon to a man with a "British accent" in south Dallas.
This came after Mr Akram posed as homeless in order to enter the Colleyville-based shul on 15 January, during a morning service, then brandished the recently purchased gun.
Mr Akram released one hostage after six hours, while Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and two other worshippers escaped several hours later after the former threw an item of furniture toward the attacker.
Throughout the terrifying standoff, the 44-year-old British national demanded the release of Pakistani scientist Aafia Siddiqui, currently serving an 86-year prison sentence in a nearby federal prison after a 2010 conviction for plotting to kill American soldiers in an Afghan police station.
Earlier this year, Ms Siddiqui issued a statement via her attorney in which she distanced herself from the January attack.