'He had evil or the Devil inside him': Face to face with the Manchester synagogue terrorist
Michael Goldstone, 79, stood face-to-face with Al-Shamie as he tried to force his way into the building
The father-in-law of former Cabinet minister Sir Grant Shapps has spoken exclusively with LBC about his role in fending off a terrorist at his synagogue in Manchester.
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Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, carried out a car and knife attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish Calendar, Yom Kippur, resulting in the death of two innocent people and injuring three others. Al-Shamie also died.
Michael Goldstone, 79, stood face-to-face with Al-Shamie as he tried to force his way into the building, only to be thwarted by the determination of those inside.
“I came face to face with him”, he told LBC.
“I was at the door facing this guy, no more than an inch away, but I was on one side (of the window), he was on the other.”
Al Shamie had earlier confronted security outside the synagogue, first making out he was looking for a nearby pub, and then saying he was searching for his car. Moments later he returned, crashing his car into a wall and then attacking people with a knife. Melvin Cravitz, 66, died as a result of the attack, with Adrian Daulby, 53, dying from a gunshot wound as armed police attempted to take down Al Shamie.
“I can remember coming home and I must have had a very bad dream seeing that face there, just so evil looking”, Mr Goldstone said.
“He had evil or the devil inside him ready to explode. You could see in his eyes, he was a very, very evil type of person. He was very, very angry. But he was determined to try and defeat us, which we were not letting it happen.”
The heroic actions of those inside the synagogue almost certainly saved many more lives, Michael claimed:
“Even though three of our colleagues were on the ground badly injured, we still continued making everything secure as we can.
“We locked all the doors, make sure all the doors around the synagogue were closed, and he tried to bank his way in.
“With three of us on each door, we decided to hold the doors so he had no chance of getting in, at this point, after trying to kick the three doors down, he threw plant pots and other articles at the windows.
“Then what we saw quite openly was this knife, and he used the handle part of the knife trying to break the glass, but to no avail at this time.
“Two policemen arrived on the scene first and he was told lie down. Under no circumstances would he lie down. So two shots were fired. He tried to get up to walk awa, and as he tried to, a third or fourth shot went off unfortunately, and that fourth shot without any doubt at all, unfortunately hit Mr. Finlay on the side towards his leg and carried on further and hit Mr Daulby.
“You could see he was in a bad state, personally I think he'd passed away before anybody could do anything for him. You could see there was no sign of any movement or anything, and nobody could do any more.
“In the meantime, a number of policemen came and they took another two or three shots and by then the suspect was killed. You could see he was dead and it made everybody feel a little bit cooler that the tension was taken out.”
Yoni Finlay was behind the door of the synagogue trying to keep Al Shamie out, and was among those injured as armed police responded.
“One of his first words he ever said was, and I remember it is clear to this day, “I think I've been shot”, and he unfortunately fell to the floor and he had been shot, but there was wonderful support from other people.”
Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari in the aftermath of the attack, Michael’s son-in-law Sir Grant Shapps said: “We drove straight up to Manchester, first of all.
“We didn't know quite what the situation was until we saw him emerge, saw the pictures on TV. He’d just got back from debriefing the police on the incident.
“He was on the inside of the doors whilst this maniac terrorist was face to face, face to face with him through the glass, trying to hack his way in with a knife, with flower pots, trying to ram the doors. He was there protecting us.
“So sadly, the chap next to him took a bullet and…you know, he's in shock, the family's in shock, the community's in shock and I think the country is as well.
“To have an individual like this with such hate in their hearts thinking that this, you know, was an idea to get up on Thursday morning and go and murder people like this is horrendous.”
Two people remain in hospital having suffered serious injuries at the hands of Al Shamie.