Category: hostage

Amsterdam Apple Shop Hostage-Taker Sought 200M-Euro Ransom

AMSTERDAM—A gunman who held a hostage for hours in the Apple Store in Amsterdam demanded a ransom of 200 million euros (more than $226 million) in cryptocurrencies before he was run over by police as he chased his hostage out of the shop, police and prosecutors said Wednesday. The tense, five-hour standoff paralyzed one of…


Armed Suspect Holds Hostage at Amsterdam Apple Store

AMSTERDAM—An hours-long hostage standoff at the Apple Store in Amsterdam ended late Tuesday with police in a car driving into the hostage taker as he ran from the store. His hostage was safe, police said. “We can confirm that the hostage taker is out of the Apple Store,” police said in a tweet. “He is…


No Wordle Update Leads to Discovery of 80-Year-Old Hostage

LINCOLNWOOD, Ill.—Police rescued an 80-year-old suburban Chicago woman who was held hostage in her home for nearly 21 hours by a naked man with scissors, and officers checked on the woman in part because she couldn’t text one of her daughters her daily Wordle score during the ordeal. Denyse Holt and her oldest daughter, Meredith…


UK Police Arrest 2 Men Over Texas Synagogue Hostage Incident

Two men have been arrested in the English city of Manchester as part of the investigation into the hostage-taking incident at a Texas synagogue involving British national Malik Faisal Akram, British police said on Wednesday. Akram, 44, originally from Blackburn in Lancashire, was shot dead when FBI officers rushed into Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in…


Texas Hostages Escaped Synagogue as FBI SWAT Team Rushed In

COLLEYVILLE, Texas—In the final moments of a 10-hour standoff with a gunman at a Texas synagogue, the remaining hostages and officials trying to negotiate their release took “near simultaneous plans of action,” with the hostages escaping as an FBI tactical team moved in, an official said Friday. “I think we both kind of realized around…


Hostages Talk About What Happened While Held Captive Inside Texas Synagogue for 11 Hours

By Kelli Smith and Maggie Prosser From The Dallas Morning News DALLAS—A Colleyville rabbi was held captive this weekend for more than 11 hours inside Congregation Beth Israel said Monday that he and two others escaped after he threw a chair at the hostage-taker. Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker said on “CBS Mornings” he let the hostage-taker…


Texas Synagogue Hostage-Taker Had Stayed in Area Shelters

COLLEYVILLE, Texas—An armed man who took four people hostage during a 10-hour standoff at a Texas synagogue had spent time in area homeless shelters in the two weeks leading up to the attack, and was dropped off at one by someone he appeared to know. Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British national who authorities identified…


FBI Identifies Texas Synagogue Hostage Taker as British National Malik Faisal Akram

The FBI has identified the the man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue on Jan. 15 and was shot dead after an hours-long standoff as British national Malik Faisal Akram. Akram was shot and killed when an FBI SWAT team stormed the building of the Congregation Beth Israel near Fort Worth, Texas, at around…


North American Missionaries Going on Second Week as Hostages in Lawless Haitia

Thursday marked 13 days that one Canadian and 16 U.S. citizen missionaries have been held by Haitian kidnappers for $17 million. The kidnappers threaten to kill the hostages unless they get $1 million per person. The hostages are in Haiti to do work for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries and were abducted on Oct. 16,…


North American Missionaries Going on Second Week as Hostages in Lawless Haiti

Thursday marked 13 days that one Canadian and 16 U.S. citizen missionaries have been held by Haitian kidnappers for $17 million. The kidnappers threaten to kill the hostages unless they get $1 million per person. The hostages are in Haiti to do work for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries and were abducted on Oct. 16,…