The man who allegedly illegally sold a firearm to Malik Faisal Akram pleaded guilty to a federal firearm crime on Thursday, June 30. Akram allegedly used the gun to kidnap hostages in a synagogue.
As reported by The Dallas Express, 44-year-old Akram held four people hostage as they observed a Shabbat service on January 15 in the Congregation Beth Israel, located in the 6100 block of Pleasant Run Road in Colleyville.
The incident led to an eleven-hour standoff that ended with a swat team shooting the hostage-taker, a British national. All four hostages escaped unhurt, and no other injuries were reported from the incident.
Authorities recovered Akram’s gun, a semiautomatic Taurus G2C pistol, at the scene and tied it to Henry “Michael” Dwight Williams, 32.
According to a criminal complaint, the FBI connected Williams and Akram via an analysis of the British national’s cell phone records during an intensive investigation into the hostage-taking incident. The record showed Akram and Williams exchanged several phone calls from January 11 to January 13.
“Tireless days of nonstop investigation revealed the connection of Mr. Akram to Mr. Williams,” explained Dallas FBI Special Agent in Charge Matthew DeSarno. “We are grateful to the many law enforcement agencies and personnel that traced the weapon’s nefarious source,” he added.
During his first interview with agents on January 16, Williams — a felon previously convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted possession of a controlled substance — told investigators that he remembered selling a firearm to an individual with a British accent. However, he told investigators he could not recall that individual’s name.
When agents interviewed Williams again on January 24 after he had been arrested for an outstanding state warrant and showed him a photo of Akram, Williams confirmed that he had sold Akram the gun at an intersection in South Dallas. Analysis of Akram and Williams’ cellphones showed the men were in close proximity on January 13.
Williams was charged in January via a criminal complaint and pleaded guilty to the charges before U.S. Magistrate Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez on Thursday, June 30. According to his plea papers, Williams admitted to possessing a firearm despite having a prior conviction.
“This defendant, a convicted felon, had no business carrying — much less buying and selling — firearms. Whether he suspected his buyer would use the gun to menace a community of faith is legally irrelevant: In the U.S., convicted felons cannot possess firearms,” United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas Chad E. Meacham said in a statement.
“The Justice Department is committed to prosecuting those who violate our nation’s federal firearm laws, which are designed to keep guns from falling into the hands of dangerous offenders. We are grateful to the FBI, which sprang into action as soon as the synagogue hostage crisis began, and to the agents who worked tirelessly to track the weapon from Mr. Akram to the defendant.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office led the investigation into the case, with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives’ Dallas Field Division, the Dallas Police Department, and the Colleyville Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Magliolo is the lead prosecutor in the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Errin Martin, Jay Weimer, Alex Lewis, Nicole Dana, P.J. Meitl, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Beran (fmr) assist him, as do trial attorneys David Smith and Michael Dittoe of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.
A date for Williams’ sentencing hearing was not revealed.
