A volunteer security guard who confronted the Manchester synagogue attack terrorist has revealed the killer said he was ‘looking for his car’ before he mounted the deadly rampage.
Ivor Rosenberg, 78, was volunteering as a security guard at Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, launched the attack which killed two worshippers.
The mayhem, staged on the Yom Kippur – the holiest day on the Jewish calendar – saw the knifeman ram his car into a crowd of people before then trying to ‘stab everyone in sight’.
Al-Shamie, who was on bail for rape, was shot dead by police after he murdered Melvin Cravitz, 66, and seriously injured three others.
Mr Rosenberg, who helped hold the synagogue doors shut as Al-Shamie tried to force his way inside, said the terrorist was ‘gazing into the synagogue’ before disappearing down a nearby alleyway.
He said the attacker aroused suspicion and when confronted claimed to be looking for a nearby pub.
Mr Rosenberg told the BBC: ‘There was a fence between us and I said, “What are you doing?” and he says, “I’m looking for my car”.’
Al-Shamie was asked to leave before returning and told security guards ‘This is a free country, I can go wherever I want.’
He left the synagogue on foot before returning in a car, driving at worshippers before stabbing them.
He tried to get inside the synagogue by using his knife and throwing plant pots stood at the doorways at the windows, but was kept out by brave congregants who kept the door shut.
Mr Rosenberg said it was only the actions of ‘heroes’ barricading the synagogue doors that prevented more deaths.
Adrian Daulby, 53, from Crumpsall, also died outside the synagogue during the attack.
He is believed to have been fatally injured when he was hit by a stray bullet as police fired at Al-Shamie, who was wearing a fake explosive vest.
Three more people injured remain in hospital, while six people have been arrested in relation to the attack.
Chilling new footage shows the extremist just seconds before he carried out his atrocity.
Just yards from the synagogue, Al-Shamie’s battered hatchback can be seen driving to where worshippers are gathering at around 9.30am.
Moments earlier a man in a light brown coat and wearing a black backpack – believed to be Al-Shamie – can been seen walking furtively towards the synagogue and then away from it.
Seconds after it is visible being driven past in new footage obtained by the Daily Mail, the 35-year-old extremist attempted to smash his way inside the building as Rabbi Daniel Walker and courageous congregants barricaded the doors.
It comes after earlier footage which appears to capture the weight-lifting terrorist in the minutes before his attack.
That clip, filmed on doorbell camera, seems to show bearded Al-Shamie walking down a road following an earlier confrontation outside the synagogue, in which he was told to leave.
The suspected Islamist extremist, who was on bail for rape at the time of the attack, was recorded at 9.22am walking in a yellow coat.
Then, at 9.26am, Al-Shamie is seen driving towards the synagogue in a black Kia Picanto, which matched the one he used to ram into worshippers.
Emergency services were alerted to the chaos at 9.31am, with firearms officers arriving at the scene and killing the 35-year-old within seven minutes.
Hundreds of mourners gathered outside Agecroft Cemetery in Salford, Greater Manchester, on Sunday to pay their respects to Mr Cravtiz.
The ‘kind and caring’ husband, also from Crumpsall, was stabbed to death while trying to protect others from knifeman Al-Shamie.
Mr Cravitz had previously survived two heart operations and had no children of his own, but was seen as an uncle figure to his wife’s children from her previous marriage.
On Sunday more than 300 mourners lined up outside the cemetery to mourn the loss of the ‘devoted’ husband.
A black hearse pulled up alongside the crowd of people who surrounded the building while the victim’s loved ones went inside.
This week, Mr Cravitz’s grieving family remembered him as ‘kind and caring’ in a touching tribute.
He was friends with Rabbi Walker, who bravely helped keep the knifeman at bay during the stabbings on Thursday.
Mr Daulby was among those bravely attempting to keep the doors closed during Al-Shamie’s knife rampage.
His family last week paid tribute to him, hailing Mr Daulby as a ‘down to earth man whose final act was to save others’.
‘Adrian Daulby was a hero and tragically lost his life in the act of courage to save others, he will forever be remembered for his heroic act on Thursday 2 October 2025,’ they said in a statement on Friday.
‘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.’
He was described as a ‘quiet man’ who became a ‘hero’ at his funeral on Monday.
Rabbi Walker said Mr Daulby had been in his usual seat, where his late father and grandfather had sat, ‘at that terrible moment when evil struck’
‘Adrian sits on the back row of the shul. When evil struck, he sought to secure the building. All of you who know and love Adrian know he was a quiet man.
‘In that moment of need, that quiet man became a tremendously strong hero,’ the Rabbi said.
‘He was an unassuming member of the synagogue who actually rose to the terrible danger, because he ran to close all the doors, back and front,’ Brian Bell, the synagogue’s chief executive, said.
He added it was while the ‘gentle’ 53-year-old was holding one of the doors closed that he was shot.
Another man, Yoni Finlay was also shot while trying to barricade the door, according to his family.
The 35-year-old was hit in the chest and is now recovering after having undergone major surgery on Thursday evening, his 15-year-old son, Uriel, said.
Speaking to ITV News, the teenager – who was at home asleep during the terror attack – said: ‘I spoke to Rabbi Walker, he told me that he and my dad barricaded the doors with a couple of other people and, in the process of the armed police shooting the terrorist, one of the bullets hit my dad in the chest.
‘He was shot accidentally by a bullet that went through the door.’
The schoolboy added: ‘My dad is a complete hero, he saved so many lives, and I’ll never, ever forget that.’
Rabbi Walker was among those who attempted to barricaded the door to the synagogue and was later hailed a ‘hero’ for his efforts.
Four people have been detained on suspicion of terror offences.
On Sunday, counter terror police were granted more time to hold them in custody, as investigators continue their work to understand ‘the full picture’ of what happened, a spokesman for Counter Terrorism Policing North West said.
Two other people, a man and a woman, were released without charge after they were arrested on the day of the attack.
On Thursday evening, pro-Palestine activists were branded ‘disgusting’ for staging anti-Israel rallies in Manchester and London hours after the terror attack.
Activists also ignored pleas to postpone a major demonstration in London on Saturday, in which some almost 500 people were arrested.
Organisers of the protest, Defend Our Juries, said 1,000 people attended the event to ‘oppose genocide and the Palestine Action ban’.
Palestine Action was proscribed as a terror group by the government earlier this year.
