Police have confirmed an entire synagogue is being held hostage by a gunman in the US, with a SWAT team sent to the scene.
A man is holding a rabbi and congregants hostage at a Texas synagogue, according to police, who have dispatched a SWAT team to the residential neighbourhood surrounding the temple.
Police in Colleyville, a community near Dallas-Fort Worth, warned residents to stay away from the immediate area of the Congregation Beth Israel Synagogue, the New York Post reports.
Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker and some of his congregants are being held hostage, according to social media and a Twitter posting by Colleyville police.
Commenters on a Facebook livestream of a service at the synagogue say a man there is holding people hostage, according to a report in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
An angry man can be heard ranting about religion on the ongoing livestream, the newspaper reported.
However, the video does not show what is taking place in the temple, and it is unclear how many people are in the synagogue, the newspaper reported.
The Colleyville Police Department tweeted on Saturday afternoon US time that it was conducting SWAT operations at the address of Congregation Beth Israel.
On social media, many were offering prayers for Cytron-Walker, leader of the Reform Jewish congregation that was established in 1999, according to its Facebook page.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been reproduced with permission
Originally published as Fears as rabbi, congregants held hostage by gunman at Texas synagogue
Credit: Source link
