A witness to a terror attack outside a synagogue has said the attacker “started stabbing anyone near him”.
The terrorist was shot dead by police after he killed two people when he drove into Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue and stabbed several people in front of the building in Middleton Road, Crumpsall, Greater Manchester, on Thursday morning.
Speaking to the PA news agency, Chava Lewin, who described herself as a religious Jew and lives next door to the synagogue, said: “I was outside and heard a banging sound and 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. Everyone is in utter shock.”
Greater Manchester Police said four other people are in hospital in a serious condition after the attack, which came as members of the Jewish community observed Yom Kippur – considered the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
Officers were called to the scene at 9.31am by a member of the public who said he had seen a car being driven towards people, and one man had been stabbed.
Police arrived shortly afterwards and declared Plato, the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”, and a major incident at 9.37am.
Footage on social media appeared to show members of the public shouting to firearms officers that the suspect had a bomb strapped to him.
Police later confirmed the terrorist was wearing “a vest which had the appearance of an explosive device”.
He was shot dead by police at 9.38am.
Video shared on social media appeared to show officers pointing guns at someone lying on the ground outside the front of the synagogue.
The officers shout at onlookers to “get back” and “move on”.
The person on the ground starts to get up before there is the sound of a gunshot and they fall to the ground.
Another person was shown lying motionless on the ground outside the synagogue gates with blood near their head.
A delivery driver called Gareth, who told BBC Radio Manchester he witnessed the incident, said a man was “stabbing the window” and “trying to get into” the synagogue.
“We got a bit closer. We seen a guy bleeding out on the floor. He was just basically unconscious on the floor, presumed, obviously, dead,” he said.
“And then, literally, there was (another) a guy in front of the car. He’s just laid on the floor. We couldn’t really see him.
“And like there was a few people stood in the road. Somebody shouted something, ‘He’s in the school or the synagogue’, or what it was.
“And then, as we looked over, the guy had a knife, and he was just stabbing the window trying to get in the school (synagogue).
“And then within seconds the police arrived. They gave him a couple of warnings. He didn’t listen, so they opened fire.
“He went down on the floor, and then he started getting back up, and then they shot him again.”
Paramedics arrived at the scene at 9.47am, and bomb disposal crews attended after 11am.
Greater Manchester Police said two members of the Jewish community died in the attack.
At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said: “There were a large number of worshippers attending the synagogue at the time of this attack, but thanks to the immediate bravery of security staff and the worshippers inside, as well as the fast response of the police, the attacker was prevented from gaining access.
“All those inside were safely contained until police were able to confirm that it was safe to leave the premises. Yom Kippur is a day where we see our Jewish community attending their places of worship, places where they and their families should feel entirely safe from harm.”
