A neighbour of the Manchester synagogue attacker has revealed she called police with concerns about activity at his home during the coronavirus pandemic.
Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, was shot dead by police on Thursday outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in the suburb of Crumpsall after attacking worshippers with his car and a knife.
The neighbour said her concerns had related to men “coming and going” from the address and she had been “really worried” about a relative of Al-Shamie’s in particular.
Greater Manchester Police said it maintained Jihad Al-Shamie was not known to Counter Terrorism Policing but the force was “still investigating” any reports regarding his family members.
The neighbour said: “My partner and I were really worried. [The relative] stopped speaking to us, talking less and less and spending all his time praying.
“He wouldn’t even make eye contact with me.”
She told the BBC she had used the 999 system to contact police and spoke to a female operator, but “never heard back”.
“I did feel something was not quite right,” she said.
The neighbour, who still lives close by, also told, how as a teenager, Al-Shamie had suffered a serious head injury on a family holiday and was flown abroad for treatment.
She described Al-Shamie as appearing stricter than the rest of his immediate family living in a small cul-de-sac on Langley Crescent and she became concerned he was influencing his relatives.
Other local residents described Al-Shamie as appearing “unfriendly” and “not a nice person”.
One described overhearing him swearing on the phone to another man while sitting in his Kia Picanto car a few months before the attack – and then winding up the window when he saw her leaving her house.
Counter Terrorism Police have said Al-Shamie had not been referred to the Prevent counter extremism service.
However, it emerged last week that he was on police bail at the time of the attack, having been arrested on suspicion of rape.
Two Jewish men, 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby, 53, died in the attack at just after 09:30 BST on Thursday, while three men remain in hospital.
GMP confirmed Mr Daulby was wounded by a police bullet fired at Al-Shamie, an event being investigated by watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Four people remain in custody being questioned on suspicion of terror offences after raids in Prestwich and Farnworth in Bolton.
Two people who had been arrested were released without charge.
