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Worshippers had arrived early for a special morning service at Heaton Park shul in north Manchester. It was Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, and rabbi Daniel Walker was leading prayers in his long white robes. By 9.31am, they were stained with blood.
As people made their way to the synagogue, they saw a small black car being driven erratically before it crashed into the gates. At first, some thought the driver had suffered a heart attack. But within seconds he had jumped out of the vehicle, dressed all in black, and had started stabbing those nearby.
It was “a rampage,” said one witness. An elderly man lay motionless and bleeding at the entrance to the shul. Another victim lay crumpled beneath the car bonnet. In the courtyard, the attacker appeared to be trying to break into the synagogue, stabbing and slashing at the windows as worshippers barricaded the doors.
Within six minutes, the knifeman lay prone after being shot by armed officers. As he lay on the floor, terrified passersby could see three white objects strapped to his waist. “He’s got a bomb!” shouted one man, as those inside the synagogue stared, terrified, from the windows above. “Shoot him!”
The attacker then tried to sit up. “Shoot him!” a witness shouted again. One of the officers fired a final, fatal shot.
In just six minutes, the assailant had brought terror to the Jewish community on their holiest day. Two people had been killed and a further four remained in a serious condition in hospital. It was only thanks to the bravery of the worshippers, police said, that the suspect was kept out of the building.
By 9.37am, Greater Manchester police had declared a major incident and triggered Operation Plato, the plan for a marauding terror attack. Army bomb disposal units raced to the scene as reinforcements were called in from Wales and other forces.
Fran Barrie, 75, was in her apartment overlooking the synagogue when she heard the sound of chaos: “At about half nine I heard this big bang and that’s when it all happened. There was about four loud noises. It might have been the police shooting at the guy but about 15 minutes later there was armed police, fire engines, everything.”
As paramedics rushed to help the victims, police locked down the synagogue. Nobody was allowed to leave. A huge police cordon was put in place as more armed officers arrived at speed. Military personnel arrived in what appeared to be two “Blue Thunder” helicopters, Eurocopter AS365 Dauphins used by the special forces.
On a day when many Jews turn off their phones, the news filtered out slowly at first. One woman had raced to Edilom Road dressed only in her nightwear when she heard what had happened. Her husband had been inside. He wasn’t answering the phone. “I’m sick,” she said. “I just ran out in my pyjamas”. Her son, clearly shaken, said: “It’s terrifying. We’re distraught.”
Barrie, whose husband is Jewish, heard a knock at the door. The police officer told all residents in their small block of flats to move to the back of the building, away from windows. He didn’t say why. At about 11.15am, another police officer returned and said they were all being evacuated immediately. Those held in the synagogue were led away. “We passed the bomb squad and an armed robot. I’m shaken up,” Barrie added.
Over the next two hours, bomb disposal experts carried out three controlled explosions – including one on the suspect’s vehicle. Each blast brought silence to those at either end of the police cordon. By now, security services were confident this was a terrorist attack.
Police cars were dispatched to synagogues across Manchester as nearby hospitals were locked down.
On Middleton Road, about 200 metres from the synagogue, some of those who had been inside Heaton Park shul were trying to digest what had happened. They were too upset to talk as volunteers handed out blue blankets and bottles of water. Children were among those being comforted.
Josh Aronson, 39, had been planning to observe Yom Kippur at the synagogue later on Thursday when he heard gunshots ring out at 9.37am. He immediately recognised the sound.
As a Manchester-based reporter for the Israeli newspaper Maariv, he had worked on conflicts across the world. “I’ve been in war-zone countries and know the sound of shots and I said: ‘Oh my god – I know that’s the sound of shots’. Then I heard too many sirens and I thought: oh my god, something’s happening.”
Aronson said police initially refused to let him leave the building but then told him to go, later pushing the cordon farther back before carrying out a controlled explosion. He then saw Walker, the rabbi: “I saw there was blood on the long white robe.”
“It’s just shocking,” he said. “I’ve said before, I’m a journalist but I have no words [right now]. I’ve covered these kind of attacks and never thought it would be in my own neighbourhood.”
As he spoke, armed police raced to a cul-de-sac about 500 metres from the synagogue. Officers surrounded a house and led at least one man away. Police later confirmed that two men had been arrested.
Heaton Park shul, in Crumpsall, is in one of Britain’s largest and most diverse Jewish communities, whose history traces back to the early 18th century. It also borders one of the city’s biggest Muslim populations, in nearby Cheetham Hill.
Four months ago, the area’s Jewish community was targeted when antisemitic graffiti including “Nazi Jews are scum” was sprayed outside synagogues, kosher restaurants and bus stops. Days earlier, pro-Palestine activists claimed responsibility for daubing red paint on another building, saying it was being used as a base for an Israeli weapons manufacturer.
The incidents, all around two miles from the synagogue attacked on Thursday, were among 200 recorded in Greater Manchester in the first half of this year, according to the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Jewish hate.
Police have confirmed they know the identity of the attacker but his name and background have not yet been made public – nor has any motive. Many in the community are linking the stabbings to the rise in antisemitic incidents across this part of Manchester – and Britain more widely – in the wake of the Gaza conflict.
Aronson, wearing a Manchester United shirt, said the attack would be a “wake-up call” in relation to antisemitism and the “hatred” toward Jewish people as a result of the conflict in Gaza. He added: “There’s so much hatred between Jews and non-Jews at the moment. There must be dialogue. Not everything going on in Israel has to involve the Jewish faith.”
Outside the police cordon, Barrie struggled to comprehend what had happened to her community – on this of all days. “You don’t do this in a civilised society,” she said. “It’s not helping any case. I’m feeling sad.”
Her neighbour Joyce Goldstone, 75, said: “I’m shaken up. We’ve never had any animosity here. Whenever there was riots all over the police there was nothing like that here. I was born Catholic and my husband is Jewish – we all have the same Ten Commandments so why can’t we all get along?”
