Manchester police on Wednesday said the 35-year-old man behind Oct. 2, 2025, attack on a synagogue had pledge allegiance to the Islamic State. Photo by Adam Vaughan/EPA
The man accused of carrying out last week’s terror attack targeting a north Manchester synagogue, in which two people were killed and three were seriously injured, had pledged his allegiance to the Islamic State, British authorities said in an update on the incident.
In a statement Wednesday, Chief Constable Rob Potts of Counter Terrorism Policing North West with Greater Manchester Police said Jihad Al Shamie had issued his pledge of allegiance to ISIS in a call to authorities claiming responsibility for the attack as it was ongoing.
Al Shamie was fatally shot by armed police at the scene.
The attack occurred Oct. 2 outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue during Yom Kippur service in north Manchester.
Police said he deliberately drove a black Kia vehicle at people outside the synagogue, colliding with a wall, and resumed his attack on exiting his vehicle while armed with a knife.
Minutes after police were first notified of the attack at about 9:31 a.m. local time Oct. 2, Al Shamie, 35, called police and it was in that call that he pledged allegiance to ISIS and claimed responsibility for the attack, Potts said in the Wednesday statement.
It was after Al Shamie made that call that he was shot dead by police.
Potts added that Al Shamie was armed with a second knife and was wearing what he described as a “hoax device.” Initial reports described Al Shamie as wearing what authorities said was a “suspicious device” that was determined to be unviable.
He also said that witness accounts state that Al Shamie was seen “acting suspiciously” outside the synagogue but left when confronted by security.
Al Shamie returned 15 minutes later in the black Kia, Potts said.
Two men, 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz, both of Crumpsall, were killed in the attack. Formal identification took place Friday. Police have said that one was likely shot by an officer attempting to aim for Al Shamie.
Police on Friday said that the two men were close together behind the synagogue door as worshippers were trying to prevent the assailant from gaining entrance.
Three other victims remained in the hospital the hospital with serious injuries on Wednesday, Potts said. One of the injured victims had also suffered a gunshot wound, which was determined not to be life-threatening.
Six people have been arrested and questioned in connection with the attack, but two of them were released without being charged on Sunday, with the other four to be released Wednesday, also without being charged with any offense.
The incident is being investigated as a terrorist attack, and Potts on Wednesday said Al Shamie was neither known to Britain’s PREVENT counter-terrorism program nor to the Counter Terrorism Policing unit.
“However, at this stage of our investigation, it appears that he was influenced by extreme islamist ideology,” Potts said, adding that the 999 call “forms part of this assessment.”
“Although we have made significant progress since the attack took place, we are still in the relatively early stages and there is much work to be done.”
