Local resident: Manchester attacker ‘tried to break into the synagogue’

By Reuters and ToI Staff 2 October 2025, 4:13 pm

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Armed police officers talk with members of the community near Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, north Manchester, on October 2, 2025 (Paul Currie / AFP)

A woman who lives close to the Manchester synagogue targeted in a deadly attack says she was told that the car had been driving erratically before crashing into the gates of the synagogue and trying to enter the Jewish house of worship.

“The second he got out of the car he started stabbing anyone near him. He went for the security guard and tried to break into the synagogue,” Chava Lewin tells British media. “Someone barricaded the door. Everyone is in utter shock.”

At least two people were killed after a man drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a security guard near a synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.