SYNAGOGUE attacker Jihad Al-Shamie was a teenage drop-out who smoked weed and was obsessed with violent video game Street Fighter, a pal revealed yesterday.
The friend told The Sun on Sunday that killer Al-Shamie would smoke around 2g of strong skunk a day when he was a teen and frequently felt the wrath of his parents.
Jihad Al-Shamie was a teenage drop-out who smoked weed and was obsessed with violent video game Street Fighter, a pal revealed[/caption]
The synagogue attacker spent hours in his bedroom playing Street Fighter[/caption]
And he said he spent hours in his bedroom playing the computer game using the name “Jiji”.
His obsession led to him dropping out of Liverpool John Moores University just a year into his English, media and cultural studies degree course in 2011.
The former pal said: “He was a bit of a rebellious wild child.
“He got into a lot of trouble with his parents.
“He used to smoke cannabis from an early age.
“He would spend a lot of time practising Street Fighter, like obsessively practising this computer game.
“He was very good at it, to the point where he competed a couple of times in competitions.”
One YouTube video from August 2010 shows Al-Shamie taking part in what appears to be the European Console League in Liverpool.
The source added: “It was probably why he dropped out of uni.
“He was spending too much time smoking weed, working out and playing video games.”
He added: “His personality type, he would latch on to one thing and get buried deep into it.
“Like with the computer games for example, when you get that competitive you have to have millisecond-level reactions.
“He’d spend hours just practising moves on this fighting game, obsessively, to get his reaction down to milliseconds frame-by-frame.
“The only thing I can think of is that he’s done that but with radical religion.”
Al-Shamie, whose name is said to translate as “struggle of the Syrian” became “reclusive” after dropping out of education and started to practice Islam around 2018.
Neighbours said he would spend his time lifting weights in his garage or wander around in his pyjamas and flip flops.
The pal, who lost touch with him years ago, said: “I heard he became a bit reclusive, a bit isolated, and appeared to be very into his faith, which surprised me because he was never that kind of guy. There were some concerns about his mental health. I don’t know if he ever got professional help.”
He said he was worried Al-Shamie would go down a “rabbit hole”, adding: “He had an addictive personality. My suspicion is that he ended up self-radicalising.”
Al-Shamie moved to the UK from Syria with his family when he was a young child and was granted British citizenship in 2006.
His father Faraj is a trauma doctor who later divorced his mother Formoz and moved to France.
But videos from 35-year-old Al-Shamie’s early childhood, taken on an old camcorder and posted on his dad’s YouTube channel, appear to show an idyllic upbringing with his two younger brothers.
They include Al-Shamie playing in the garden or on trips to the Trafford Centre and to Chester Zoo.
The friend said Al-Shamie’s family are “well-respected”.
He said: “His mother is well liked in the community as well. The same with his brothers.”
He described the Al-Shamies as “tight-knit” but “secular” in their beliefs, adding: “They’re a very cherished family”.
Meanwhile, it emerged yesterday that Al-Shamie had circled the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Crumpsall, Manchester, 15 minutes before his deadly attack — but was sent packing by security guards.
The killer then returned in his car, which he drove at worshippers before lashing out with a knife.
Al-Shamie was shot dead after the attack on the synagogue[/caption]
Al-Shamie died after being shot by armed police.
The terrorist’s attack left two people dead and three seriously injured.
The synagogue’s chair of trustees, Alan Levy, had helped to barricade the doors to the building, saving lives.
He said he spoke to Al-Shamie before flagging his odd behaviour to the synagogue’s security guard. But as he was walking away he heard a car revving loudly.
He said: “I turned round and I saw it smash straight into the security guard and into a gate.
“Then he jumped out and attacked one of the volunteer security guards and he gets him to the ground waving this knife.”
My Levy then ran into the synagogue and locked the door to keep the rest of the congregation safe.
He said Al-Shamie began knifing and shoulder barging the door while others helped Mr Levy to hold it closed from inside.
Al-Shamie also began smashing the door with plant pots and shouted “this is what they get for killing our children” — a reference to Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Al-Shamie had earlier asked for directions to a property around 700 yards away from the synagogue.
Police raided the address, owned by a Jewish charity trustee, shortly afterwards and arrested a 61-year-old woman and two men, aged 30 and 32.
Two women, aged 18 and 46, and a 43-year-old man were arrested in Bolton on Friday night.
Greater Manchester Police have been granted custody extensions to hold four of the six arrested for a further five days.
