‘Truly wonderful people’: Men killed in UK synagogue attack known for kindness

Friends and family of the two men killed during a terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester, northwest England, were in mourning today and paid tribute to “truly wonderful” people.

Armed police inadvertently shot Adrian Daulby as they responded to the attack, which happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

The circumstances of Melvin Cravitz’s death in the car and stabbing attack carried out by Jihad al-Shamie, a UK citizen of Syrian descent, remained unclear.

Both men lived in Crumpsall, a suburb of Manchester with an ethnically diverse but tight-knit community, where the Heaton Park synagogue is located.

During a vigil today, Rabbi Daniel Walker from the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation praises both as “truly wonderful, special men whose lives were so truly snatched from them as they tried to pray as Jews on the holiest day of the year on Yom Kippur.”

Police describe Daulby as “one of the brave worshipers” who had “prevented the attacker from gaining access to the premises.”

“Adrian Daulby was a hero and tragically lost his life in the act of courage to save others,” his family says in a statement.

“He was a beloved brother, loving uncle to his four nieces and one nephew and a cherished cousin,” it adds.

“The family is shocked by the tragic, sudden death of such a lovely down to earth man. His final act was one of profound courage, and he will forever be remembered for his heroic act on Thursday, 2 October 2025.”

A neighbor, John Kelly, tells The Times that Daulby had lived at the same address since he was a child, and his late father had worked at a Jewish tailoring shop.

Daulby was a “very, very genuine man” and “a good member of the community” who would take his neighbours’ bins out for them, Kelly says.

Another neighbor, who gave his name only as Hussain, tells The Times that Daulby had told him this week he “was not feeling too good” and “was debating” whether to go to the synagogue.

Friends of Cravitz, 66, tell The Daily Telegraph he often came to dinner and was well-known locally.

“He was a lovely person. Always with a joke, always making a smile,” says Elchonon Cohen.

“He was very beloved. He was a figure around here. If you saw Melvin, you stopped and talked,” says Elchonon Cohen’s wife, Hindi Cohen.

“He had health issues, but he was always with a joke and a smile,” she adds.

Cravitz had no children of his own but was a beloved figure to his wife Karen’s children from a previous marriage, the Telegraph reported.

“He didn’t have immediate family of his own, but the family he had he was desperate to connect with,” says Hindi Cohen. “This is a tragedy for all of them.”

A business register kept by the Companies House agency shows a Melvin Leslie Cravitz, born in March 1959, with an address in Crumpsall.

It says he had served as a director of a management company for an apartment building close to the synagogue. At that time, he gave his occupation as a delivery driver.