FBI: Texas synagogue hostage-taker sought ‘machine gun’

By JAKE BLEIBERG
Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) — A FBI agent says the man who took hostages at a Texas synagogue sought to buy drugs and a “machine gun” before the standoff last month that ended with the hostages escaping and the gunman’s death. The agent’s testimony came during a detention hearing Wednesday for the Dallas man accused of selling Malik Faisal Akram the handgun he used in his attack on Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville. A federal magistrate ordered the alleged seller, Henry “Michael” Williams, detained on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Williams’ attorney says her client couldn’t have known what Akram actually planned to do with the gun.