Inquest: police stray bullet fatal in Manchester terror attack 2026

Key Points

• A stray bullet from the police Glock firearm fired at the scene of the Heaton Park Synagogue terror attack in Manchester hit worshipper Adrian Daulby, 53, and injured Yoni Finlay, 39, while they were securing the door.
• The terrorist, Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, an ISIS fan wearing a fake suicide vest, stabbed Melvin Cravitz, 66, to death and then was killed by armed police during the attack on 2 October 2025.
• An inquest inquiry held at the Manchester Coroner’s Court showed that firearms officer F42 shot at Al-Shamie with four bullets from a Glock hand gun, but one missed the terrorist and hit Daulby and Finlay.
• The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) determined that the three armed policemen involved in shooting were not guilty of misconduct but other investigations are still being carried out regarding the previous police interaction with Al-Shamie.
• During a ceremony for victims which brought together up to 800 participants, including Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner, survivors and relatives expressed their grief, courage and growing antisemitism.
• Rabbi Daniel Walker claimed that the Jewish community feels more vulnerable than right after the terror attack due to antisemitism and lack of measures against its reasons.

Manchester (Manchester Mirror) September 03, 2026 – New details emerged at Manchester Coroner’s Court that a stray bullet from a police Glock pistol fired during the response to the Heaton Park Synagogue terror attack killed one worshipper and injured another as congregants tried to hold the doors shut against the assailant.

A firearms officer, anonymised as F42, discharged four shots from the handgun as Jihad Al-Shamie attempted to force entry on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, with one projectile missing the attacker and striking Adrian Daulby, 53, fatally, and Yoni Finlay, 39, in the chest. Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born British citizen and self-declared Islamic State supporter wearing a fake suicide belt, had already stabbed Melvin Cravitz, 66, to death outside the synagogue before being shot dead by armed officers seven minutes after the attack began at about 9.30am on 2 October 2025.

What did the inquest hear about the police Glock shots that struck worshippers?

As reported by Judith Moritz of the BBC, counsel to the inquests, Ed Pleeth, told the court that a firearms expert concluded the first or possibly the second round fired by officer F42 missed Al-Shamie and went on to hit both Mr Daulby and Mr Finlay, who were standing just behind the synagogue door while helping to barricade it alongside Rabbi Daniel Walker and other members of the congregation. Father-of-four Mr Finlay later described feeling “a very hard punch to his chest” and realising “straight away” that he had been shot, believing the bullet exited through his back and struck Mr Daulby behind him.

Anthony Metzer KC, representing survivor Mr Finlay, said his client was “a direct victim and survivor of potentially fatal use of force by the state”, while Anna Morris KC, representing Mr Daulby’s family, said they wanted the inquest to examine whether any failings in police planning contributed to his death and to address the ambulance response and how quickly medical crews attended.

What were the circumstances of the terror attack on Yom Kippur in Manchester?

According to reporting by the Daily Mail, Al-Shamie deliberately crashed his car outside the synagogue at about 9.30am and began knifing worshippers, making stabbing motions toward Mr Cravitz’s upper torso, neck and head area before the attacker charged at armed officers who fired several rounds, killing him. Detective Chief Superintendent Lewis Hughes of Greater Manchester Police told an earlier inquest opening that the first shot was fired at Al-Shamie at 9.38am, and he was not pronounced dead until 4.38pm due to concerns over his suspect explosive belt, which turned out to be fake. A post-mortem gave Al-Shamie’s cause of death as multiple gunshot wounds, while Mr Cravitz died of multiple stab wounds and Mr Daulby of a single gunshot wound, with the coroner recording this as the provisional cause of death. Greater Manchester Police declared the incident a terrorist attack and the IOPC later said it had found no misconduct by the three armed officers who opened fire, though separate IOPC probes continue into prior contact between police and Al-Shamie.

Who were the victims and what did families and survivors say at the memorial service?

As covered by the Jewish Chronicle, about 800 people, including Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner, attended a memorial service at Heaton Park Synagogue to commemorate Mr Cravitz and Mr Daulby nearly a year after the attack. Two seats remained empty bearing the names of the two men, with Sherelle Dresner, representing the family of Melvin Cravitz, describing a “lonely” and “overwhelming” new world and revealing she had received antisemitic abuse including messages blaming his murder on his religion.

Yoni Finlay, who was hit by the stray police bullet while helping to barricade the doors, said:

“An evil person tried to destroy us on Yom Kippur and together we have not let that evil win,”

adding that when he was lying on the floor with four of his organs badly damaged he made himself a promise that he would not die. Chief Rabbi Mirvis praised the congregation as “a community of heroes”, saying they had responded to evil with virtue and to hatred with love, while Rabbi Daniel Walker described Mr Cravitz and Mr Daulby as “very different men, but very united in their ability and determination to make this world a better place”.

What did officials and community leaders say about safety and antisemitism after the attack?

As reported by the BBC, Rabbi Daniel Walker said ahead of the memorial that the Jewish community feels less safe now than it did immediately after the attack, citing rising antisemitism and a lack of action to deal with core problems. Communities Secretary Angela Rayner told the congregation that “any attack on Jews is an attack on us all” and pledged to root out antisemitism “from its very foundations” by taking on extremists and bearing down on those who seek to divide communities.

Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson of Greater Manchester Police described antisemitism as “a moral stain that needs to be ruthlessly expunged” and said he could understand how vulnerable and isolated the Jewish community felt, while pointing to minute silences in football stadiums as evidence of the “roar of the silent majority”. King Charles and Queen Camilla sent a joint message read at the service saying: “Hatred can never prevail over our shared humanity,” and expressing that the sense of shock and sorrow remained undiminished.

Background of the development

The Heaton Park Synagogue attack unfolded on 2 October 2025, Yom Kippur, when Jihad Al-Shamie drove into the synagogue gates, stabbed Melvin Cravitz to death and attempted to force entry while wearing a fake suicide belt, before being shot dead by armed police. In the chaotic response, a police marksman fired four shots from a Glock pistol; one round missed Al-Shamie and struck Adrian Daulby, who was helping to hold the door shut, and Yoni Finlay, who survived with serious injuries. Greater Manchester Police declared the incident a terrorist attack, and the IOPC launched investigations into the officers’ actions and prior police contact with Al-Shamie, later finding no misconduct by the firearms officers.

Al-Shamie, a university drop-out on bail for alleged rape at the time, had not been referred to the Prevent counter-extremism programme and was not known to counter-terrorism policing or the security services, according to statements by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. An inquest into the deaths of Mr Cravitz and Mr Daulby is ongoing, with lawyers calling for examination of information-sharing between security services and police, the climate of antisemitic propaganda and radicalisation, and measures in place to protect synagogues over Yom Kippur.

Prediction: How might this development affect the Jewish community and wider public safety policy?

The revelation that a stray police bullet killed a worshipper during a terror response is likely to deepen anxiety within the Jewish community about security arrangements at places of worship, even as officials emphasise the necessity of armed police intervention in active attacks. For congregations, the inquest’s focus on police planning, ambulance response and information-sharing may prompt calls for revised protocols for synagogue security on high holy days, including clearer lines of communication between armed officers and those inside buildings barricading doors.

In the wider policy arena, the case could influence debates on the rules of engagement for firearms officers in crowded urban settings, the deployment of less-lethal options where feasible, and the training of police in coordinating with civilian defenders during terrorist incidents. For British Jews already reporting heightened feelings of vulnerability amid rising antisemitism, the dual trauma of a terror attack and a state-inflicted casualty may reinforce demands for stronger government action on hate crime, more visible protection for Jewish institutions and sustained efforts to counter radicalisation and online extremist propaganda.