One of the victims who died in the Manchester synagogue attack and another who was injured were likely shot by armed officers aiming for the killer, police said on Friday.

The police said they believed the two victims were huddled behind a door in the synagogue in the northern English city, trying to prevent the attacker from entering, when they were shot.

The admission came the day after two Jewish worshipers were killed and three others seriously injured in a car ramming and stabbing attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Manchester suburb of Crumpsall on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism. The suspected attacker was also killed by police.

While the attack in Manchester shocked the country, many members of the Jewish community there said they felt like it was inevitable. Several local residents told CNN that people there were increasingly talking about moving to Israel, as they no longer felt safe in the UK.

Britain’s chief rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said that Thursday was “the day we hoped we would never see, but which deep down, we knew would come,” pointing to the rise in antisemitic incidents in the United Kingdom following the October 7 attacks against Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

Manchester’s Jewish community left reeling after deadly attack on holiest day

The attack, and the police reaction to it, unfolded in a very short span of time on Thursday morning.

The police said that armed officers were deployed to the scene within three minutes of receiving an emergency call at 9:31 a.m saying that a car had been driven into people outside the synagogue. According to the police, shots were fired by the officers at 9:38 a.m.

Manchester police Chief Constable Stephen Watson said on Friday that one of the deceased victims “would appear to have suffered a wound consistent with a gunshot injury,” according to a preliminary report from the Home Office pathologist.

He said that since the police believed that the suspect, Jihad Al Shamie, did not have a gun, it must have been the police gunfire that hit the victims.

“The only shots fired were from GMP’s Authorised Firearms Officers as they worked to prevent the offender from entering the synagogue and causing further harm to our Jewish community,” he added.

“It follows therefore, that subject to further forensic examination, this injury may sadly have been sustained as a tragic and unforeseen consequence of the urgently required action taken by my officers to bring this vicious attack to an end.”

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said Friday it is investigating the use of “lethal force” by Greater Manchester Police during the attack. It added that this was “standard practice” when police use of force “may have resulted in the death of a member of the public.”

The police said shots were fired by the officers at the scene, confirming later that the assailant had been killed. A video from the scene showed armed police officers shouting instructions at bystanders and worshippers inside the synagogue, while pointing their weapons at a person lying on the ground.

The two men killed in the attack were named by the police as Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66. The police did not say which of the two men was believed to have been shot by the officers.

The police said three people were receiving treatment in a hospital for injuries sustained during the attack. One a suffered a gunshot wound, one had been stabbed and one was struck by the car involved in the attack.

Investigation continues

In a Friday update, police said the suspect Al Shamie, a British citizen of Syrian descent, “may have been influenced by extreme Islamist ideology.”

Al Shamie had recently been arrested on suspicion of rape, but was released on bail “pending further enquiries,” Greater Manchester Police confirmed to CNN Friday. It is not clear where the alleged offence took place.

UK counter-terrorism police said three more people had been arrested in relation to the attack, bringing the total number of people in custody to six.

“We have now arrested three further people, one man and two women, aged between 18 and mid-40s. This brings the number of people in custody arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism to six,” Laurence Taylor, head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said in a statement.

Police said they will be seeking “warrants of further detention for all six individuals,” while stressing that their investigation is still “in its early stages.”

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited the site of the attack on Friday.

Speaking after the attack on Thursday, Starmer said he would “do everything in my power to guarantee” the security “every Jewish person in this country” deserves.

Later Friday, crowds of mourners gathered in Manchester to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attack. Heaton Park Rabbi Daniel Walker called the two victims “truly wonderful, special men,” before leading a moment of silence.

Also at the vigil, British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy vowed to never stop fighting terrorism amid heckling from the crowd. “That is why we stand in defiance of those terrorists who seek to divide us, who want to pit neighbor against neighbor,” Lammy said.

Jews make up a small minority of the UK population, with just under 300,000 people living in England and Wales identifying as Jewish during the most recent census in 2021.

But the community is feeling increasingly targeted, with the number of antisemitic incidents rising over the past decade and reaching new record levels last year, according to Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors incidents and protects British Jews from terrorism and antisemitism.

The Metropolitan Police in London urged organizers of protests in support of the banned group Palestine Action, scheduled for this weekend to cancel the gatherings in light of the Manchester events.

“The horrific terrorist attack that took place in Manchester yesterday will have caused significant fear and concern in communities across the UK, including here in London,” the police said.

“Yet at a time when we want to be deploying every available officer to ensure the safety of those communities, we are instead having to plan for a gathering of more than 1,000 people in Trafalgar Square on Saturday in support of a terrorist organisation,” the police said.

Manchester’s Jewish community left reeling after deadly attack on holiest day

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar urged his British counterpart Yvette Cooper in a call to take a firm stance against what he called the “toxic antisemitism movement” in the UK.

“Sa’ar raised the need to confront pro-Palestinian marches and demonstrations that bear an antisemitic character and sometimes include explicit support for terrorism,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said.

In an article published in The Jewish Chronicle on Friday, Starmer asked anyone thinking about protesting this weekend “to recognise and respect the grief of British Jews this week.”

“This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain,” he wrote.

Lammy also called on those planning to attend this weekend’s protests to “reflect with all human dignity, grace and understanding and to stop, and to stand back.” (CNN)

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