The US Department of Justice announced Monday that a man who sold a pistol to a man who used it to hold four hostages inside a Texas synagogue before being fatally shot by the FBI was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison for a federal gun crime.
Prosecutors said Henry “Michael” Dwight Williams, 33, pleaded guilty in June to being a felon in possession of a firearm. According to prosecutors, Williams sold Malik Faisal Akram the weapon he used when he entered Congregation Beth Israel in the Dallas suburb of Colleyville on Jan. 15 and held the synagogue’s rabbi and three others hostage.
On Jan. 13, Williams, who had previously been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and attempted possession of a controlled substance, sold Akram a semi-automatic pistol.
Prosecutors claimed that in his plea papers, Williams admitted to having the firearm despite his previous conviction.
“This defendant, a convicted felon, had no business carrying, let alone buying and selling, firearms,” said U.S. Attorney Chad Meacham in a news release.
Prosecutors said Williams admitted to selling the handgun to Akram at a Dallas intersection.
Akram, a 44-year-old British citizen, held hostages in exchange for the release of a federal inmate. After more than ten hours, the standoff ended when the temple’s rabbi threw a chair at Akram and fled with the other two remaining hostages, just as an FBI tactical team moved in. There were no injuries among the hostages.
Williams was apprehended a little more than a week after the standoff.
