Feds charge Texas man with selling gun used to take hostages

Dallas – A Texas man has been charged with selling a gun to the man who held four hostages inside a Texas synagogue earlier this month before being fatally shot by the FBI, the Justice Department said Wednesday.

Henry “Michael” Williams was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm after authorities say he sold the weapon that Malik Faisal Akram used when he entered Congregation Beth Israel in Colleysville, Texas on Jan. 15 and held the synagogue’s rabbi and three others hostage for hours.

Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, held hostages in the Dallas-area suburb while demanding the release of a federal prisoner. The standoff ended after more than 10 hours when the temple’s rabbi threw a chair at Akram and fled with the other two remaining hostages just as an FBI tactical team was moving in.

The attorney listed for Williams in court records did not immediately respond to a phone message and email seeking comment.