An inquest into his death was opened and adjourned in 17 minutes
11:30, 31 Oct 2025Updated 11:32, 31 Oct 2025
Jihad Al-Shamie(Image: Facebook)
An inquest into the death of Manchester synagogue terrorist Jihad Al-Shamie was opened and adjourned by a senior coroner in just 17 minutes today.
‘Representatives’ of Al-Shamie’s family watched the brief hearing at Manchester Coroner’s Court over a video link.
Greater Manchester Police, giving evidence, said Syrian-born Al-Shamie, 35, ‘sustained multiple bullet wounds’ after police ‘discharged several rounds’ at him outside Heaton Park Synagogue in Crumpsall on October 2.
A post-mortem examination, the court heard, gave a provisional cause of death as ‘multiple gun shot wounds’.
The inquest opening was conducted by Her Honour Judge Alexia Durran, the Chief Coroner of England and Wales.
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It was adjourned until February 19 next year.
The hearing on Friday came after inquests into the deaths of Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz were opened and adjourned by the same coroner on Wednesday.
A post-mortem examination found Mr Daulby, 53, died from ‘a single gunshot wound to the chest’. He was helping to barricade the door of the synagogue as Al-Shamie was trying to get inside.
The court heard on Wednesday ‘a single stray or possibly deflected bullet’ fired by police as Al-Shamie was shot dead ‘penetrated the synagogue doors, and fatally struck Mr Daulby in the chest’.
Mr Cravitz, 66, died from ‘multiple stab wounds’. Al-Shamie, it was said, got out of a car outside the synagogue with a knife and ‘immediately made stabbing motions towards Mr Cravitz to his upper torso and head/neck area’. Mr Cravitz was earlier almost hit by the car the terrorist was driving.
Three other men who were seriously injured in the attack, meanwhile, are now all out of hospital, police said on Thursday.
Giving evidence on Friday, Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes said: “The succinct circumstances of the incident are that a male named Jihad Al-Shamie attended at the synagogue at approximately 9.30am. Al-Shamie is recorded on CCTV as driving a vehicle into a security guard and the external gate and wall at the synagogue entrance and then subsequently attacking worshippers and security staff with a knife.
“Armed police attended the incident and discharged several rounds at the suspected terrorist. As a result of this incident, three people have lost their lives, which includes two victims and the suspected terrorist.
“Three other victims were very seriously injured which consisted of, a security guard struck by the vehicle, a worshipper completing security duties outside who was stabbed, and another worshipper inside who also sustained a gunshot injury. Whilst all received very serious injuries requiring extensive medical treatment, all are recovering and it is not anticipated that there will be any further loss of life arising from this incident.”
Al-Shamie pronounced dead seven hours after being shot
Det Chief Supt Hughes said officers opened fire after Al-Shamie ‘ran towards them aggressively whilst carrying a knife’ and wearing what was styled as a suicide vest.
The court heard he was first shot at 9.38am, but he wasn’t pronounced dead until seven hours later, at 4.38pm.
That was because of concerns over the vest he was wearing, the court heard.
Police were first called at 9.31am on October 2 – the Jewish holy day on Yom Kippur – and firearms officers deployed to the synagogue within minutes.
Six minutes later, Greater Manchester Police declared Operation Plato – an emergency services protocol for a suspected marauding terrorist attack. Shots were fired a minute later and Al-Shamie was killed.
His death, however, was not immediately confirmed, as police said he had ‘suspicious items’ on his person said to have resembled a suicide vest. As a result, bomb disposal experts were called.
Al-Shamie, 35, was later described police as a British citizen of Syrian descent. The device worn by him was also deemed not to have been viable.
Police said its records did not show any previous referrals to the Government’s counter-terrorism programme, Prevent.
Counter-terror policing said he was first ‘seen acting suspiciously outside the synagogue’ before he was confronted by security guards and walked away. That initial interaction wasn’t reported to the police.
But he returned in a car 15 minutes later ‘and began his horrific attack’.
Al-Shamie had a ‘non-counter terrorism-related criminal history’, police said, but was on bail at the time of the attack after he was arrested on suspicion of rape. They said initial investigation showed Al-Shamie ‘may have been influenced by extreme Islamist ideology’.
He’s understood to have been granted British citizenship in 2006 as a teenager having come to the UK as a child.