Who was the Manchester synagogue attacker?
18 minutes agoJonny Humphries, Tom Mullen & Lauren HirstNorth West
FacebookThe picture is still slowly building surrounding the life of Jihad Al-Shamie but he is known to have been a 35-year-old British citizen of Syrian descent.
Al-Shamie is understood to have entered the UK as a young child and was granted British citizenship in 2006 when he was around the age of 16.
People in Prestwich, Manchester, told the BBC he was a weightlifting enthusiast who rarely spoke to his neighbours.
Geoff Halliwell, a neighbour of a house raided in Langley Crescent and believed to be Al-Shamie’s, said the property used to be on his window-cleaning round.
Mr Haliwell, 72, said he knew the family “a little” and they were “really nice people”.
“I was astonished, I was shocked,” he said, adding that he believed the family, comprising a mother, father and brothers, moved to the street about 15 years ago.
He said the father had lived there for five or six years then left the home but would visit in a car with French number plates.
He said Al-Shamie would sometimes wear western clothes and other times “traditional” Syrian dress. He also said Al-Shamie would use benches to work out.
He added: “I would see him at least once or twice a week, we just said ‘hello’.
“I didn’t even know his name.
“He was just a straightforward, ordinary lad, nothing would stand out to make you think he was.”
Another neighbour remembered a baby also living at the address but could not recall seeing a woman living there.
She said: “We used to see him out in the garden working out, doing weights, press ups.
“He used to change his clothes.
“One day he would be wearing the full gown, to the floor and the next jeans and pyjama bottoms.”
ReutersAnother resident told the Daily Telegraph: “I recognised him from the pictures of the attacker. I recognised his little car, the Kia, because he’d always park it badly outside ours.
“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.”
“He never seemed to speak to anyone around here,” added.
Was he known to authorities?
Al-Shamie’s name has not appeared in initial searches of police and security service counter-terrorism records, and he is not thought to have been under current investigation.
Further checks are under way to see if he appears anywhere in records of other investigations.
There are reports Al-Shamie used to work as a tutor teaching English and computer programming and his father is a surgeon.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “surprised” by the attacker’s name.
Speaking on LBC, Ms Mahmood was asked about the attacker’s name, Jihad Al-Shamie, which presenter Nick Ferrari translated as “struggle of the Syrian”.
She said: “I was very surprised to discover that name myself.
“Actually, as a Muslim, I’ve never heard someone being called Jihad, but it is the name that he was born with – that has always been his name.”
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