Starmer: 'Vile Individual' Carried Out Synagogue Attack

An attack that killed two people and injured four others outside a synagogue in Manchester, England was a terrorist attack committed by a "vile individual," British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Thursday. Police said the suspect who drove his car at members of the public and stabbed people outside the Heaton Park synagogue Thursday morning was killed by armed officers who arrived at the scene within minutes, the Manchester Evening News reports. The attack took place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said the two people killed were members of the city's Jewish community, the BBC reports. He praised the "immediate bravery of security staff and the worshippers inside as well" for preventing the attacker from gaining access. Watson said the attacker was wearing a vest "which had the appearance of an explosive device," but police later determined it was "non-viable." A video on social media shows the man lying on the ground outside the synagogue, with a bystander and police shouting that he had a bomb, the AP reports. Police shot the man as he tried to stand up.

Laurence Taylor, Britain's chief of counter-terrorism policing, said police have declared the attack a terrorist incident. He said police know the attacker's identity and there have been two arrests connected to the attack. Starmer said the man "attacked Jews because they are Jews and attacked Britain because of our values." He promised to do everything in his power to give the Jewish community "the security you deserve," the BBC reports. "We'll come together to wrap our arms around your community," he said. "We will show you Britain is a country where you and your family can be safe, secure, and belong."

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Rob Kanter, who was in the synagogue during the attack, tells the Guardian that the mood inside was "actually relatively calm." He says congregants made sure doors and windows were closed when they heard a commotion outside. Kanter says that after police evacuated them to another building, the rabbi did his best to continue the service. "At the end of the day," he says, "our rabbi's role was to try and say, yes, this is a terrible tragedy, but we want to try where possible to remember today as Yom Kippur, and we did as much as we could as a group."