More than two years have passed since Jeff Cohen, Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and two other men were held hostage by a gunman who threatened their lives during a lengthy standoff at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville.
The ordeal ended well for the three men who endured the 11-hour ordeal before making a daring escape as gunman Malik Faisal Akram grew angrier and more agitated. The fourth hostage, an elderly man, was released several hours earlier.
While details of what transpired on Jan. 15, 2022 have trickled out, a new documentary film will reveal information about the horrifying moments that occurred inside the synagogue, which have yet to be made public.
An advance pre-screening of the film “COLLEYVILLE” will be shown for the first time on Sunday in Colleyville. The location of the showing will be released with the purchase of a ticket.
Like many people worldwide, documentary filmmaker Dani Menkin was riveted by the continuous news coverage of the terrifying ordeal.
“At first, I didn’t plan to do a documentary,” said Menkin, an Israeli-born filmmaker who produces films through his Los Angeles production company, Hey Jude Productions.
Intrigued by the survivor stories recounted in news coverage, Menkin recognized there was a compelling story to tell. He reached out to Cytron-Walker and the others.
The 90-minute film includes footage captured by security cameras inside the synagogue’s sanctuary during the hostage ordeal. The film also includes interviews with the hostages, their family members and law enforcement officials, including FBI agents and negotiators, and others.
“A lot of these situations don’t end well,” Menkin said. “I think people will be moved by it and will see it as important.”
With anti-Semitism on the rise in recent years, the film is particularly relevant now.
Although he has only seen portions of the film, Cohen said it shows a lot of what transpired that day and how Akram was driven by anti-Semitic beliefs that Jews control everything from government to the media to financial systems.
Radicalized by a cleric who had been banned from social media for an extended period and then regained privileges, Akram was apparently moved by the cleric’s rants about injustice against Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani national and alleged al-Qaeda operative, who is serving an 86-year sentence at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, a federal prison in Fort Worth, for attempting to kill U.S. soldiers.
As a result, Akram flew from England to the U.S. and arrived in late December, 2021, according to published reports. He spent time in New York before traveling to Dallas-Fort Worth, where he intended to carry out his mission of freeing Siddiqui.
Although Akram had a history of erratic behavior and engaging in criminal activity in England, he was not on a terrorist watch list.
Akram stayed in two homeless shelters in Dallas. Through an acquaintance at the shelter Akram purchased a stolen handgun from a convicted felon, Henry “Michael” Dwight Williams, who was sentenced in October 2022 to nearly eight years in prison for possession of a firearm as a felon.
“Tireless days of nonstop investigation revealed the connection of Mr. Akram and Mr. Williams,” Matthew DeSarno, Dallas FBI Agent in Charge, said in a statement.
On the chilly morning of Jan. 15, 2022, Akram, appearing disheveled and cold, conned his way into the synagogue under the pretense of being homeless and seeking to warm place for refuge.
Cytron-Walker took pity on him and invited him inside. The rabbi offered him a cup of tea. A short time later, as prayer services were underway, the click of a gun resonated in the sanctuary.
As a service livestream broadcast remained running, listeners could hear the hostage situation unfold. Footage from the security cameras included in the film present visual images from the day.
“There is video of the gunman, there is video of us and there is video of the gunman wielding the gun at us,” said Cohen, an engineer for Lockheed Martin. “There is a lot of (foul) language, a lot of blatant anti-Semitic and hateful statements.”
Although the trauma of the day will always be with him, Cohen said he no longer has sleepless nights.
“It has changed what I do and what is important to me,” he said. “But when get close to the anniversary date, it affects me.”
Throughout the ordeal, Cohen said Akram’s rants made it evident that he believed the tropes that Jews control the media, the banks and government, and assumed they could bring about the release of Siddiqui from her Fort Worth imprisonment.
As new information has been revealed during the past two years, Cohen said it now known at Akram had originally targeted a synagogue in Fort Worth that was closer to the prison, Cohen said.
It is also now known that Akram slept outside in a Colleyville park the night before the attack, said Cohen, a former president of the synagogue.
During the ordeal, the hostages had their phones and were able to text one another and their family members.
On the day of the attack, Shane Woodward was attending services, as he typically did as part of the process of converting to Judaism. Raised a Baptist, Woodward said he has found his spiritual home in Judaism and the welcoming embrace of Congregation Beth Israel.
During the harrowing ordeal, Woodward focused on surviving but he also came to appreciate the reality and insidiousness of hatred and anti-Semitism.
“It’s so sad and dangerous,” Woodward said.
During the day, Woodward had a couple of opportunities to get away but didn’t. As a diabetic, he became ill toward evening and Akram was willing to release him.
Instead, Woodward offered to let Lawrence Schwartz, who was in his 80s, be released instead.
“If it came down to it, I knew I could run and Lawrence probably couldn’t,” Woodward said.
As the evening wore on, Woodward said, he worried about Akram’s increasing agitation and feared that an unfortunate ending might be imminent. He said he began gagging so he could be allowed to go the restroom and text his wife. He also contemplated escaping through a back entrance near the restroom.
“But I knew if I did try to run, it would set off the alarm and (Akram) would hurt Charlie and Jeff,” said Woodward, an information technology specialist.
It was not long after Woodward returned to the sanctuary that Cytron-Walker managed to throw a chair at Akram and the hostages were able to escape.
Akram fired a shot into the ceiling and then attempted to fire at the hostages as they escaped.
“The extractor pin broke and he couldn’t reload another round,” Woodward said.
Akram was then shot to death by FBI agents.
Despite the terrifying experience, Woodward never wavered on converting to Judaism. Cytron-Walker presided over his conversion shortly before leaving Congregation Beth Israel for a new position with a synagogue in North Carolina. The rabbi is also a leading national spokesman of anti-Semitism.
Cohen said he is thrilled that the story will be told through the film.
“This is an important story needs to be told because we need to always be aware of the dangers of racist and anti-Semitic tropes,” he said.
Proceeds benefit Congregation Beth Israel and Hey Jude Productions.
Pre-purchase of tickets is required. For tickets in Colleyville, visit https://www.congregationbethisrael.org/form/colleyville.prescreen.html