Revealed: Islamist terrorist, 35, who killed two harmless males in Yom Kippur horror grew up in home across the nook from Manchester synagogue

An Islamic terrorist who killed two men outside a synagogue came to the UK from Syria as a young child and grew up just around the corner from the site of the attack.

Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, who was shot dead minutes after he targeted Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester yesterday, is understood to have been granted British citizenship in 2006 when he was a teenager, aged around 16.

It is believed he was a dad – with a photo shared by his own father last year showing him holding a baby in his arms. The Facebook post was captioned ‘great welcome grandson’.

Al-Shamie – who is yet to be formally identified – carried out his murderous rampage on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

He first rammed his black Kia Picanto hatchback into crowds of Jewish worshippers at 9.31am, before he got out and started ‘stabbing everyone he could get to’. 

Videos on YouTube show Al-Shamie and his two brothers playing in the back yard of a home on Crescent Road, which around a 20-minute walk from the synagogue he later targeted. 

The clips were shared by the killer’s father Faraj Al-Shamie, who is believed to be a trauma doctor who has worked for several NGOs in warzones across the world.

It is understood the family has lived in Greater Manchester for at least 30 years – and currently live in Prestwich, around two miles from the scene of the terror attack. 

Al-Shamie’s name was last night linked to a property in the town – with a neighbour recognising his face from photographs of the synagogue attacker. 

She told The Telegraph: ‘He lived there 10 years, with no wife or kids that I could see. He never seemed to speak to anyone around here.’

The neighbour added: ‘I’d see him walking around in his pyjamas and slip-on sandals, carrying a shopping bag.

‘He was quite bulked up and used to keep his exercise weights in his garage. I’d see them there.’

Al-Shamie is understood to have worked as a tutor teaching English and computer programming. 

It is not known whether he came to the UK as an asylum seeker or whether it was through another immigration route, such as ‘family reunion’ which can allow foreign nationals to join relatives already in Britain.

Two men have been confirmed dead in yesterday’s horror. Three other Jewish worshippers were rushed to hospital with serious injuries, one with stab wounds and the other hurt by being hit by the car.

In an update last night, police said they had also arrested two men aged in their 30s and a woman in her 60s on suspicion of planning a terrorist attack. 

Police said officers were ‘working to understand the motivation behind the attack’. Earlier the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that the 35-year-old was an Islamic terrorist.

Al-Shamie’s name has reportedly not appeared in initial searches of police and security service records, and he is not thought to have been under investigation.

Further checks are being carried out to see if any of his details appear anywhere in records of other investigations.

Al-Shamie tried to force his way inside the synagogue, but was prevented in doing so by hero Rabbi Daniel Walker, who barricaded worshippers inside.

Father-of-three Yoni Finlay also helped to stop him from going inside. He was said to have been injured by a stray bullet when armed police shot Al-Shamie dead seven minutes after the horror unfolded. 

Mr Finlay was taken to hospital following the attack and is said to have undergone surgery.

It is unclear whether he was accidentally shot or was injured from shrapnel and flying glass from the impact of the bullet on the door. 

‘Marauding’ terrorist Al-Shamie had been seen wearing what was feared to be a vest with an explosive device. 

Police later confirmed the vest he was wearing was ‘not viable’. 

Khurram Rafiq, who was driving past the synagogue, said Al-Shamie went from victim to victim in a ‘robotic’ manner like he ‘had a job to do’.

Mr Rafiq, 35, a manager for a global tech firm, told the Daily Mail: ‘Initially I thought it was an accident and that the driver had lost control for whatever reason. 

‘But he then got out and stabbed the man who was lying on the ground. The knifeman walked through the front gates and stabbed at least two other men. I would describe him as an Asian man and he was going for anyone who was Jewish.

‘The men he stabbed were all wearing the kippah. There was no shouting from what I could hear nor any religious slogans.’

Last night, Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis said the terror attack had come following an ‘unrelenting wave of Jew hatred on our streets, campuses, on social media and elsewhere’.

He said: ‘This is the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come.’

Police patrols have been bolstered outside synagogues since yesterday’s bloodshed, with Sir Keir Starmer pledging to the Jewish community that he would do ‘everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve’. 

The premier later visited an unnamed synagogue in a show of solidarity having earlier heaped praise on the heroic emergency services and security who had ‘no doubt whatsoever prevented an even greater tragedy’.

Sir Keir had flown back from a summit in Copenhagen to oversee the emergency response.

Greater Manchester Police chief constable Sir Stephen Watson said the bravery of security staff and worshippers had stopped the knifeman from entering the building. 

Sir Stephen 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.’ 

Former Tory minister Sir Grant Shapps told The Times that his father-in-law, Michael Goldstone, came ‘face-to-face’ with Al-Shamie from inside the synagogue, where he is a member of the congregation.

Sir Grant told the newspaper: ‘He was face-to-face with the terrorist, holding the inside of the door, as he tried to break down the front doors.

‘The chap had turned up 10 minutes earlier before the car came back and smashed into the security.

‘They locked the doors when the car crashed into the gate, which prevented more killings.’

Shortly after police shot Al-Shamie, Rabbi Walker was seen outside, his white kittel – the traditional robes worn by Jewish religious leaders – seemingly covered in blood. 

Worshipper Rob Kanter, 45, was in the barricaded synagogue and told how Rabbi Walker was providing as much pastoral support as he could. 

He described the terrifying moment the Heaton Park Shul was placed into lockdown – but said most of those inside were able to remain calm. 

‘We knew there was a commotion because we had already made sure all of the doors and windows were shut,’ he said. 

‘I would say the mood amongst our fellow congregants was very calm. Everyone deals with these things in their own way, but generally, everyone was very calm and dignified.’

He said the worshippers evacuated across Middleton Road to a nearby relief centre.

Speaking from Downing Street after a Cobra emergency committee meeting, Sir Keir condemned the ‘terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews’, which he said had been committed by ‘a vile individual’.

Addressing the Jewish community in the UK, he said: ‘I promise you that I will do everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve, starting with a more visible police presence, protecting your community.’

‘The rabbi was providing as much pastoral support in the circumstances as he could,’ he said.

‘We’ve obviously got to police quarters, and we continued to do part of the service, because at the end of the day, of course, it’s awkward and it’s difficult and people have got a multitude of emotions going on, but we carried on.

‘We did not the whole service, but we did what we could in the circumstances.

‘Your mind’s on many things, but our Rabbi’s role was to try and say “yes, this is a terrible tragedy, but at the end of the day, we want to try where possible to remember today is the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement” and we did as much as we could as a group.’

Benjamin Netanyahu called the deadly rampage a ‘barbaric attack’ and said Israel was grieving with the Jewish community in Britain.

‘Our hearts are with the families of the murdered, and we pray for the swift recovery of the wounded,’ the Israeli Prime Minister said.

‘As I warned at the UN: weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it.’

Speaking in Manchester near the synagogue, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was ‘horrified by the anti-Semitic terrorist attack’. 

‘My prayers are with the victims and the families of all of those who are murdered here today,’ she said. 

She added: ‘I know that there are many questions that are still to be answered, and rest assured, they will be answered as quickly as possible, it will just take a little time for us to establish exactly what has happened here, but we will share more information as soon as we are able to.

‘What I do want to say is to those who seek to divide us, they will fail.’

Andy Burnham stood next to Ms Mahmood to condemn the attack. He said that ‘Greater Manchester will never stand aside when one of our communities is attacked’.

The Mayor of Greater Manchester added: ‘We ask everyone to show solidarity to the Jewish community this weekend, and already, we’ve mobilised through our interfaith network messages of support and solidarity through places of worship.’