One victim in Manchester synagogue attack was killed by police gunfire, say police

One of the two men killed in a Manchester synagogue attack earlier this month died from a gunshot fired by a police officer, a UK inquest is told.

Adrian Daulby, 53, died from the single gunshot wound to the chest, while the other victim, Melvin Cravitz, 66, died from multiple knife wounds inflicted by the attacker, police tell the Manchester Coroner’s Court.

Daulby is described at the hearing as a “quiet hero” who leaped from his seat to block the doors of Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue when the attacker, Syrian-born UK citizen Jihad al-Shamie, tried to storm the building on October 2.

Greater Manchester Police Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes tells the court Daulby was hit in the chest while behind the door when the armed officer responding to the situation fired several rounds.

Shamie had started his attack by driving his Kia Picanto at security staff and the external gates of the synagogue, where worshipers were gathering for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. Wearing a fake suicide belt, he then stabbed Cravitz, a father of three, and tried to storm the synagogue before being shot dead by police, Hughes recounts.

“The offender exited the vehicle armed with a knife and immediately made stabbing motions to Mr. Cravitz’s upper torso, head and neck area,” he tells the court.

Hughes says interior ministry post-mortems had determined the preliminary causes of death for both Cravitz and Daulby following the attack.