How Jihad Al-Shamie unleashed 7 minutes of terror in Manchester synagogue attack

“While this is not a new hate, this is something Jews have always lived with… We must be clear, it is a hatred that is rising once again, and Britain must defeat it once again,” said the United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday after a man drove his car into people near a synagogue in Manchester, proceeding to stab two to death and injuring three others.

The attack came at 9.30 am, local time, on Thursday, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar, which the police then treated as a terrorist incident.

The suspect, later identified as Jihad Al-Shamie, has since been killed, with the police also arresting three other people within hours of the attack in the city of Manchester.

But how did the attack take place? Who’s behind it? What was the motive for it? We get you all the answers to these questions.

How did the Manchester synagogue attack unfold?

On Thursday morning, the day of Yom Kippur, Greater Manchester Police said they received a call at 9:31 am, local time, informing them that a car had been driven toward members of the public, and that several people had been stabbed outside Heaton Park shul, a synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester. By 9.38 am, the police, who rushed to the scene of the attack, shot dead the suspect.

But what ensued in those seven minutes of terror?

A large crowd had collected at the synagogue on account of it being Yom Kippur. As the congregants gathered at the spot, a car appeared on the scene, with witnesses saying they heard a loud bang. Chava Lewin, a religious Jew who lives next door, told The Times, “I thought it might be a firework. My husband went outside and then ran back inside and said, ‘There’s been a terrorist attack’.”

“I spoke to someone who said she was driving and saw a car driving erratically, and it crashed into the gates [of the synagogue]. “She thought maybe he had a heart attack. The second he got out of the car, he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue. He was in the courtyard. Someone barricaded the door.”

Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson later stated that security staff and worshippers managed to stop the man from entering the building.

Within seconds of the suspect ramming his car into the gates of the synagogue, armed police arrived, giving the suspected attacker several warnings before opening fire at 9.38 am. The suspect was dead.

A video shared on social media showed two armed officers pointing guns at a man, believed to be the suspect, lying on the ground outside the synagogue.

The man filming can be heard saying “they’ve killed him” as officers turn to bystanders and shout “Move back, run away. Somebody stay with the casualties; everybody else, he has a bomb, go away. Get back!”

Warning: distressing footage

‘Get back… he has a bomb, go away.’

Watch the moment armed officers attempt to get members of the public away from the suspect involved in the Manchester Synagogue attack. pic.twitter.com/Y8gj0rUJSU

— GB News (@GBNEWS) October 2, 2025

A witness shouts to the officer, “he’s got a bomb on his f***ing jacket. He’s going to blow himself up. He’s trying to press the button” as the camera pans to what appears to be an elderly man lying down and bleeding in the street.

As the man believed to be the suspect stood on his knees, the officers took their aim once more. Seconds after the man recording the video screamed “f***ing shoot him”, the officers shot him two more times, leaving the man rolling on the ground.

By 10.30 am, the immediate danger appeared to be over, but authorities urged the public to avoid the area as the police response continued.

Who was the suspect in the Manchester synagogue attack?

Much after the attack took place, the Manchester Greater Police identified the suspect to be Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent. He is believed to have entered the UK as a very young child, and was granted British citizenship in 2006 as a minor.

Authorities add that Al-Shamie’s name did not appear in any records of Prevent — the UK government’s counter-terrorism programme.

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Stephen Watson told reporters that the attacker was wearing a vest, which had the appearance of an explosive device. However, the force later confirmed it was not viable.

Al-Shamie’s motive is yet to be determined, the police has said.

The police has also said three other people — two men in their 30s and a woman in her 60s — have been arrested on suspicion of committing acts of terrorism.

Who are the victims in the attack?

According to the police, two people have died in the Manchester synagogue attack, while three others have been critically injured in the stabbing. Their identities, however, have yet to be released.

The police has confirmed that both of those killed were Jewish, while one of the people stabbed was working as a security guard outside the synagogue, though whether they were there in a professional or volunteer capacity is still unknown.

What has been the response to the Manchester attack?

UK PM Keir Starmer returned early from a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, Denmark, to London where he chaired an emergency security meeting. He condemned the “vile individual” for attacking Jews “because they are Jews.” He also promised that he would do everything in his power to guarantee the security of the Jewish population, “starting with a more visible police presence.”

The British monarchy also expressed their grief after the incident. King Charles III said he and his wife, Queen Camilla, were “deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the horrific attack in Manchester, especially on such a significant day for the Jewish community.”

Meanwhile, members of the Jewish community in Crumpsall are still trying to wrap their heads around the tragedy. One man told Sky News, “This is an extremely tolerant community, where people of many faiths, including Jews and Muslims, have lived side by side for years, and I am stunned by what has taken place.”

Rabbi Jonathan Romain, of Maidenhead synagogue, told The Times that the incident was “every Jewish person’s worst nightmare”. “Not only is this a sacred day, the most sacred in the Jewish calendar, but it’s also a time of mass gathering, and the time when the Jewish community, however religious or irreligious, gathers together.”

Is the attack reflective of rising anti-Semitism in the UK?

Reacting to the incident, opposition’s Tory leader Kemi Badenoch called it “vile and disgusting”, further condemning “the rise in antisemitism that we’re seeing in our country”.

This begs the question: has anti-Semitisim risen in the UK? Community Security Trust (CST), a UK-based charity for the welfare of British Jews, reported 3,528 instances of anti-Semitism in 2024, the second highest recorded by CST in a single calendar year. Nineteen of the instances recorded in 2024 involved damage to synagogues.

The highest was in 2023, when 4,296 instances were recorded.

With inputs from agencies

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