Manchester synagogue volunteer describes confronting attacker

A volunteer security guard at a Manchester synagogue has spoken about the moment he confronted the man who went on to attack worshippers.

Ivor Rosenberg, 78, was working alongside paid security guards at Heaton Park synagogue ahead of a Yom Kippur service on Thursday morning.

He said another volunteer had told him there was a “suspicious-looking man” who claimed to have been looking for a nearby pub before “disappearing” down the alleyway next to the building.

Mr Rosenberg said when he looked he saw the man “gazing into the synagogue”.

Mr Rosenberg added: “There was a fence between us and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ and he says, ‘I’m looking for my car’.”

Mr Rosenberg said the attacker, named by police as Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, appeared to be “up to no good” so was asked to leave.

Be he returned a short time later, and when he was asked to leave again he reportedly told security guards: “This is a free country, I can go wherever I want.”

Greater Manchester Police and counter terrorism officers investigating the attack have said Al-Shamie left the synagogue on foot and returned in a car, driving at and then stabbing worshippers.

Mr Rosenberg said: “I heard this almighty bang and I turned and I saw the car smashed into the gates.”

He and another volunteer, Alan Levy, ran into the building and barricaded the door behind them.

“I rushed straight into the office and I dialled the police and I was screaming down the phone, ‘We’re under attack, we’re under attack’,” Mr Rosenberg said.

“I could hear him from the office banging on the door [saying] ‘Let me in’, threatening to kill us all.”

Mr Rosenberg, who was born in Scotland, added: “I don’t think this is a safe country for Jews to live in.

“That’s what happened last Thursday and I think that will happen again.

“I’m worried for the future, not for my future, but for my children and my grandchildren and their children.”

As the Jewish community prepares for the upcoming Sukkot festival, Mr Rosenberg said such celebrations would be “very different” this year.

The attack resulted in the deaths of Melvin Cravitz, 66, and Adrian Daulby, 53.

Mr Daulby is understood to have died when he was hit by a stray bullet as police fired at Al-Shamie, who was wearing a suspicious device later found to have been a fake explosive vest.

Three more people injured in the attack remain in hospital.

In total, six people have been arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism.

More than 1,000 people attended a rally in Manchester city centre on Sunday which commemorated those killed and injured in the attack.