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All Four Hostages In A Texas Synagogue Have Been Released Unharmed. Aired 10:37-11p ET

Aired January 15, 2022 - 22:37   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[22:37:40]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello and welcome, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes.

We've been tracking breaking news, of course, out of Texas, where at least three people are currently being held hostage at a Ft. Worth- area synagogue. CNN's Ed Lavandera is on the scene in Texas for us.

Ed, there have been some developments that you heard. Bring us up to date.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Michael. This is all here developing in the last 25 minutes. Let me get to the headline.

According to a tweet just sent out by the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, all of the hostages are out of the synagogue, safe and alive. That tweeted just moments ago by the governor of Texas. We have not heard that directly from law enforcement, the FBI or authorities here on the ground.

But I can tell you that, about 25 minutes ago, as we were sitting here in the parking lot, a little more than a quarter mile away from the synagogue, we heard a loud explosion and then, shortly after, a rapid series of gunfire that lasted just a short amount of time.

After that, it has been quiet. And then now just hearing from the governor of Texas, saying that all of the hostages, the remaining three hostages have been released. They are safe and alive.

We do not know the condition of the suspect in this case or what exactly has happened or if any of the law enforcement agents that were on the ground, presumably entering the synagogue, we don't know what kind of condition they may be in.

All of this continuing to develop here in the last 25 minutes. So we are continuing to gather as much information as we can.

But let me recap. There were three remaining hostages; about five hours ago, four hours ago, the fourth hostage had been released earlier. So there were three remaining, including the rabbi of the synagogue. All those, we are told, understand at this point, are all safe and alive.

As I mentioned, about 25 minutes ago, we heard a loud explosion coming from the direction of the synagogue just down the street from where we are, followed by a series of rapid gunfire. That was it. There was no other sounds that we heard. And then shortly after, getting this new information from the governor here in Texas, Michael.

[22:40:00]

HOLMES: And then for those perhaps just joining us, give us a sense of how this all started. I mean, there was a service that was being livestreamed and all hell broke loose, apparently. Bring us up to date on that.

LAVANDERA: Sure. Just before 11:00 in the morning, Central time, about 11 hours ago, in Colleyville, Texas, just east of Ft. Worth, police started getting reports of this suspect taking people hostage inside this synagogue.

We have heard throughout the course of the day from members of this congregation, who said they were watching a live stream when they heard the suspect ranting and raving, screaming hysterically inside the synagogue and taking four people hostage in all, including the beloved rabbi of this synagogue.

Because of the COVID pandemic, the vast majority of the members of this synagogue had not been attending Sabbath services in person. That's why there were so few people inside.

And the congregation members that we've spoken with say they have been watching all of the events unfolding here throughout the course of the day, extremely dramatic, tense, frightening.

And all of this culminating here this evening with what we heard as a loud explosion, followed by a short series of rapid gunfire. And now the governor of Texas says the remaining hostages, who were inside that synagogue, are safe and alive.

HOLMES: And I'll read that tweet verbatim.

"All hostages safe and situation over at Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas."

That's Greg Abbott, his official post on Twitter.

Ed, you mentioned the explosion and the gunfire. We do have tape of that, the sound that have explosion. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES (voice-over): You can barely hear it but it is there, sort of echoing across.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: That could have been a breaching explosive. It could have perhaps been stun grenades. We just don't know at the moment.

And we don't know, do we, what's happened to the hostage-taker, do we?

LAVANDERA: No, we don't know. And I can tell you, that was the first time I've had a chance to listen to that audio of that explosion. I can tell you that here on the ground, it was much clearer than that.

We are here in the staging ground, in the parking lot of a Catholic Church just up the street from the synagogue. As soon as people heard that explosion, everybody, the remaining members of the news media team that are stationed here, everybody jumped up. They knew exactly what it was, that it was a dramatic sound.

And then several seconds later, hearing that rapid gunfire. I don't want to speculate as to exactly what those sounds were. I'll leave that to other people to do. But clearly it led to the beginning of the end of this hostage situation here at the synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, which has gone on for nearly 11 hours.

HOLMES: And also the hostage-taker had specific demands. He was talking about a desire to free a prisoner convicted back in 2010 of attempted murder and armed assault on U.S. soldiers. Tell us about that.

LAVANDERA: Yes. We've been hearing from federal law enforcement sources and law enforcement sources throughout the day that this suspect, this hostage-taker, was inspired in part because of this jihadist, who had been convicted of crimes and being held at a prison here in the Ft. Worth, Texas, area.

And that was what inspired all of this. We have been trying to confirm throughout the day the exact identity of this person and that has still not happened. There have been some names floating around and some connections, that perhaps this suspect was connected to Aafia Siddiqui, who is in the prison here in the Ft. Worth area.

But all of that we're still waiting to hear more confirmation.

And now for the first time, we're hearing sirens. It has been generally quiet, so I don't know if those sirens are headed toward the synagogue scene or what the case might be. But that is something we have not heard through much of the evening. So things definitely in the atmosphere here definitely changing at this hour, Michael.

HOLMES: Yes. That prisoner, Aafia Siddiqui, was held in federal prison in Ft. Worth, Texas, convicted in 2010 on terrorism charges, sentenced to 86 years in prison after opening fire at Americans and became a cause celebre among jihadists around the world.

[22:45:00]

HOLMES: Her name has cropped up numerous times, even with groups like ISIS.

Ed, stick around. We'll bring in CNN's Juliette Kayyem now. She's served as assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Good to have you with us, Juliette. Your initial thoughts on what we do know that's happened. That was an explosion of some sort; the hostages, according to the Texas governor, are now safe.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, thankfully. This is such good news for not just those who were held hostage and their family members but, of course, for that community and the Jewish community.

So what we're reporting is some sort of flashbang; that would be typical of law enforcement. As I've been saying all day, time was on the FBI's side to the extent they just needed a vulnerability. They needed the hostage-taker to get tired, to become agitated, to maybe become vulnerable himself.

I talked to him. He did let one hostage out, suggesting that there was some negotiations going on. That was to create an opportunity for the FBI to go in. And their concern is not life or death of the hostage- taker; it's to get the hostages out alive. So that is a success.

We don't know if the suspect is alive or dead right now. We'll wait on that. This is how the FBI would have envisioned its best-case scenario, to be honest, that this is exactly what you would want.

And now figure out if he's alive, is there a motive, is he speaking, was he engaged with anyone else?

It will become a criminal or terrorism investigation, depending on if he was -- depending on if others were involved and, also, of course, whether he's alive right now.

HOLMES: Yes. When it all kicked off, I mean, what was sort of different about this, in terms of, you know, compared to, say, an active shooter situation, he was incoherent in many ways and also apologetic, according to some witnesses.

What did you make of that?

KAYYEM: There were signs throughout the day that we're -- in this world that we're living in, with the alternative was an active shooter case, as we've seen at synagogues in the last couple years, in particular the Tree of Life incident.

So what we saw ended up being the good news aspects of the last couple of hours, because that's where the space where the FBI works best. You have a hostage-taker, who is talking, who seemed at least, to congregants who heard him, apologetic about what he was doing, said that he went to the synagogue not because he had any ties to it or he even knew about it but because of its proximity to an airport, as if he had some notion of an exit strategy.

So all of those become part of what made the FBI or what allowed the FBI to buy time, continue to talk to him, have him release one of the hostages. And then, of course, go in. I mean, this is -- what we heard was that there a flashbang and then

at least sounds of weapons. That would be standard operating procedure for the FBI or any law enforcement agency, as they went into a hostage situation.

You're going to protect the hostages. And the hostage-taker is, at that stage, vulnerable, probably can't see and you take him any way you can get him at this stage. And we just don't know what his status is.

HOLMES: It will be interesting to find out with that explosion was and whether it is a breaching charge, as you say, a flash bang or a stun grenade.

When you talk about how this has unfolded, what is it that precipitates law enforcement making a move, as they clearly have done?

What sorts of things?

KAYYEM: Over the course of the 8-10 hours we have been on air on this, there was the hostage negotiation team with the FBI. But there's another team, either the SWAT team, locally, or the FBI equivalent, in terms of active engagement.

They are also planning to go in. They're taking their cues at this stage from the hostage team, the hostage negotiation team.

When they feel they can't get any further or that the hostage taker, the suspect, is agitated, may turn to violence, they will then initiate an operation. So we don't know why there was that pivot. Maybe they saw an opening.

[22:50:00]

KAYYEM: I know this sounds odd but this is a single person, trying to contain other people and the FBI has infinite numbers of people to keep this up. So tired, exhaustion, other things come into play.

Those are all the vulnerabilities that you want, to allow for that opening. So this is the two part aspect of it. We saw one part, the hostage negotiation part. We knew that was going on. There was this other part that all of us in law enforcement or Homeland Security knew about, which they are ready to go in, once they see that opening.

And we don't know what triggered that but we will probably find out.

HOLMES: And this taking place at a synagogue is of enormous significance. The woman he wanted released, Aafia Siddiqui, was very anti-Semitic and very anti-Israel, and so on. An incident like this has the potential to inflame anti-Muslim sentiment, among those so inclined, right?

KAYYEM: Look, Siddiqui and anyone who supports her are horrible human beings, anti-Semitic terrorists, who target people of the Jewish faith and they terrorize. And so any prosecution or however tonight turned out, they deserve in the sentence. So they create this fear but what happens is then the fear, as you

have seen in this country, generates more fear and hostility. So I have been really pleased to hear that congregants from the synagogue talked about their community outreach with the Muslim community there.

Don't follow Twitter tonight. That's where all the bad stuff happens. Actually in the communities, interfaith interactions do occur, are neighbors and they know each other. And one hopes that the terror that was brought off by these anti-Semitic terror groups can not generate more for other communities. So we have to be cognizant of that.

But right now the target was the Jewish community throughout the nation, and throughout the world, we saw global interest in this. There is no reason to believe this is going to generate more incidents at synagogues.

But as most synagogues know, the one my children are a member of, certainly have to take security seriously, because of the rise of anti-Semitism in this country. And it does not get resolved with a single arrest or a single good result in the hostage. That's something that will take a long time, unfortunately.

HOLMES: And it was heartening to hear that the rabbi at this congregation was very active in outreach and -- also the local -- one of the imams locally was saying that he was horrified, he said, by what has happened and called the suspect a criminal.

I think we are going to Evan Perez now, I believe, in D.C.

Juliette, thanks.

Evan Perez, what are you hearing?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Michael, we know in the past hour or so, we knew that the hostage rescue team had come in to prepare and they were staging, should the opportunity present itself to go in, in the situation as soon as they could.

And we are still trying to get details of exactly what happened here. We know they were ready in case there was any sign of danger to the hostages or if there was any way trying to go in and rescue these people.

It appears that's exactly what happened. We are told the hostage team, the sound that you heard, you hear on some of the video from our team there on the ground, was the sound of flashbangs, which is the way they try to go in, to surprise the suspect.

And they were able to go in successfully and rescue the three hostages, who remained in there. And those people are safe. We are still checking to see what is the status of the suspect, whether that person is still -- is injured or what their status is.

That's something we are still trying to verify with law enforcement officials. But you know, at the end of the day, this is close to as good of a resolution as you can have in a situation that's clearly very dangerous.

[22:55:00]

PEREZ: And they wanted to make sure these people were brought out alive and no harm came to them.

HOLMES: Indeed. Evan, thanks.

Let's go back to Ed Lavandera, who's there, nearby the congregation there.

Ed, you were there.

What was it like?

You were standing there and then what?

Bang!

LAVANDERA: That is exactly what happened. Everything calm, as it has been. We are at a distance, so we don't have a very clear vantage point of the synagogue. But it is down the road. You see the flashing lights behind me, more than a quarter mile down the road and some of the Senate caucus.

As we were standing here, we were just caught off guard by what is, clearly, a loud explosion. It was not like it was a car crash or some sort of firework or anything like that. Clearly, it was a serious explosion.

And then several seconds later, that series of rapid gunfire. Seeing some of these things, some of the good news is, it was instantly quiet once again, after all that transpired. So clearly, it wasn't an ongoing gun battle or anything like that.

So about 25 minutes after that is what we heard and the governor saying here in Texas, all hostages were out safe and alive. I'm trying to communicate with several congregation members and members of the community here, who have friends who go to the synagogue.

I am told by one congregation there has been a message that has gone out to the community, alerting them. So word quickly spreading this evening among everyone here, who have been so frantically and desperately, watching these events unfold.

HOLMES: And you spoke with someone earlier, who had been on the stream, is that right?

LAVANDERA: Yes, several members, as I alluded to earlier, the vast majority of the members of this synagogue watching and not attending services in person, because of the COVID pandemic.

So there were very few people inside. And the people we spoke with said they were listening to what was unfolding in the synagogue for more than an hour. That is why they describe this in such harrowing terms. They said it was heartbreaking and absolutely frightening. In the

video that they were able to see, they said, you really couldn't see any faces, so they couldn't tell exactly who was inside but you could hear the voice of the suspect screaming, frantically, at some point. It was the way it was described to me.

So, you can imagine what's someone's brain does, as they sit there and they're trying to process this terrible situation and not able to see what is unfolding but hearing someone, at least, according to one of the synagogue members, that we have spoken to, that that person was going off on vile rants, dangerous rants, and vacillating between being apologetic and then going back to ranting and raving.

So absolutely terrifying moments before that livestream feed cut off.

Exactly.

What do you expect will happen, now, with law enforcement?

We don't know what has happened to the hostage taker.

LAVANDERA: We do not know. Clearly, plenty of rumors swirling around here at this point. But official word, not yet gone out. We have not heard -- we have gotten a few updates from law enforcement officials, throughout the course of the day. But they have not held any press briefings or anything like that.

Here, in this staging area, where we have been, throughout the course of the day, we suspect now that this event appears to be over there will be some briefing. And when exactly that will happen and at one time, it's hard to say. But we will continue to be here, as long as it takes, to get as much of that information to you as possible.

HOLMES: Other than the hostage taker saying he wanted contact with this Aafia Siddiqui, in prison, other than knowing that he wanted contact with her, is there any idea why he chose, A, a synagogue and, B, this one?

LAVANDERA: We don't know exactly.