A Manchester attack victim may have been accidentally shot, killed by police

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the head of Orthodox Judaism in Britain, said the attack was the result of “an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred” on the streets and online.

One of the two men killed in a car and knife attack on a synagogue in the English city of Manchester appears to have been accidentally shot by a police officer as worshippers tried to stop the attacker entering the building, law enforcement authorities said Friday.

Police said local residents Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, died in the attack on the Heaton Park Congregation Synagogue in the Manchester suburb of Crumpsall on Thursday. Three other people are hospitalized in serious condition.

Police shot and killed a suspect seven minutes after he rammed a car into pedestrians outside the synagogue and then attacked them with a knife in what the police force called an act of terrorism. He wore what appeared to be an explosives belt, which was found to be fake.

Greater Manchester Police chief Stephen Watson said a pathologist has provisionally determined that one of those killed had a gunshot wound. Since the attacker did not have a gun, he said the injury may have been “a tragic and unforeseen consequence” of police actions.

He said one of the hospitalized victims also appears to have been shot.

“It is believed that both victims were close together behind the synagogue door, as worshippers acted bravely to prevent the attacker from gaining entry,” Watson said.

The assault took place as people gathered at the Orthodox synagogue on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement and the most solemn day in the Jewish calendar.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, the head of Orthodox Judaism in Britain, said the attack was the result of “an unrelenting wave of Jew hatred” on the streets and online.