A gunman took four people hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas Saturday morning, including the rabbi. The gunman's initial interactions with the hostages were transmitted online during the synagogue’s Facebook Live broadcast of their Sabbath morning services.

The FBI later identified the hostage-taker as Malik Faisal Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen.

Over the course of the day Saturday, Akram demanded the release of convicted terrorist and attempted murderer Aafia Siddiqui. He released one male hostage and continued to demand Siddiqui’s release from prison.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that “a loud bang followed by what sounded like gunfire was heard about 9:12 p.m.” outside the synagogue. Shortly thereafter, authorities confirmed the hostage rescue team had breached the synagogue, rescued the remaining hostages unharmed, and killed Akram during the standoff.

In a Saturday appearance on MSNBC and while the story was still developing, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel incorrectly suggested that "white supremacy" was behind the attack on the synagogue.  

In a Sunday evening appearance on CNN, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara shared his recollections of Siddiqui's case, and discussed the apparent connection to the events in Texas. Bharara had been the lead prosecutor at her trial, helping secure a conviction and an 86-year prison sentence. Siddiqui made headlines during that 2010 trial, both for the accusations that she had terrorist ties and for her aggressively anti-Semitic outbursts that resulted in the judge ordering her out of the courtroom and left to watch her own trial via video feed from a prison cell.

Also on Sunday, the Greater Manchester Police (the area of Britain where Akram had lived) announced they had arrested two teenagers and detained them for questioning "in relation to the incident" in Texas. 

The investigations are ongoing on both sides of the pond, and new information continues to be reported.

Fox News aired video footage of the moment the hostages were freed.

Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker was interviewed by CBS Monday morning, sharing the harrowing details of being held hostage and how they finally escaped. “It was terrifying, it was overwhelming, and we’re still processing,” Cytron-Walker said. “It’s been a lot.” He credited the security training he and others at the synagogue had taken with helping him stay calm and focused during the ordeal. 

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'He had me down to a science'

New York City Mayor Eric Adams is not even three weeks into his tenure, but he’s already checked off a major milestone with a Big Apple institution: getting parodied on Saturday Night Live.

Adams was a good sport about his late-night televised mocking, and tweeted some tips for Chris Redd, the cast member who portrayed him.

The sketch, set at a press conference, had Redd taking on Adams' blunt way of speaking and pride in his past as an NYPD captain. He repeatedly bragged about increasingly absurd lengths of time for his tenure as a police officer (all the way up to “over 222 years”) and assigned nicknames to the reporters like “Little Squirrel Man” and “Weird Eminem.”

It was a funny sketch, and Adams and Redd's lighthearted interaction on Twitter afterwards was even better.

Check it out here, if you think you have enough "swagger."