The White House said on Tuesday that security databases failed to flag Malik Faisal Akram, the man who held four hostage at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville, Texas on Saturday, according to Breitbart.
“Our understanding and obviously we are still looking into this is he was checked against U.S. government databases multiple times prior to entering the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
“The U.S. government did not have any derogatory information about the individual in our systems at the time of entry,” she added.
Akram, 44, was shot and killed by police during the hostage attempt. He had reportedly been demanding the release of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani-born scientist with suspected ties to al-Qaeda who was convicted of trying to kill U.S. Army officers in Afghanistan, per CBSN Dallas Ft. Worth.
He flew into the United States through New York's JFK Airport on Dec. 29 with a tourist visa, according to multiple reports. He also was investigated by U.K. intelligence services but was determined not to be a terroristic threat, according to the New York Post.
The FBI confirmed that the investigation of the incident was “a terrorism-related matter” in a statement and said they would investigate it using their Joint Terrorism Task Force, CNN reported.