2 dead, many injured as car rams into pedestrians at Manchester synagogue

No fewer than two people were killed after an assailant drove a car into pedestrians and stabbed a security guard near a synagogue in Manchester, England, on Thursday, October 2, 2025.

Greater Manchester Police said the suspect, who was believed to be carrying a bomb, was shot after they rushed to the scene at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall district of the city in northern England.

In a series of posts on X, police said they were called to the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Crumpsall shortly after 9:30 a.m. by a member of the public, who said he had witnessed a car being driven toward members of the public and that one man had been stabbed.

Minutes later, shots were fired by firearms officers.

“One man has been shot, believed to be the offender,” police added.

Police said they could not confirm if the suspect was dead “due to safety issues surround suspicious items on his person.”

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A bomb disposal unit has been called and is currently at the scene.

Speaking to BBC Radio Manchester, Mayor Andy Burnham of Greater Manchester said that a “degree of reassurance can be given that it’s not a developing, an ongoing incident”.

Police said it had “declared Plato”, the national code word used by police and emergency services when responding to a “marauding terror attack”.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is at a summit of European leaders in Copenhagen, said in a post on X that he was “appalled” by the attack.

“The fact that this has taken place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, makes it all the more horrific,” Starmer said.

Starmer is flying back from the summit to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee, COBRA.

Britain’s King Charles also reacted, saying he was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the “horrific attack”.

The Star