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The suspect who carried out the deadly attack at a Jewish house of worship in Manchester had been released on bail from authorities related to an alleged rape when the incident took place, as per reports.

The attacker, Jihad al-Shamie, aged 35, was under investigation for the reported sexual assault that reportedly occurred in recent months.

The attacker, who was born in Syria, is also thought to have previous criminal convictions, though he had not drawn attention from counter-terrorism officials.

The assailant was killed by police gunfire by responding police after he killed a member of the Jewish community and severely injured multiple other individuals during the assault on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester's northern area on Thursday.

Two men, 53-year-old Adrian Daulby and 66-year-old Melvin Cravitz, lost their lives in the attack. One victim succumbed to a bullet fired by officers targeting Shamie.

Counter-terrorism police and security services are working to uncover the assailant's history, with indications that he chose Yom Kippur, the most sacred day in the Jewish year, to attack those praying.

Although the attacker was not known to counter-terrorism agencies or referred to the Prevent deradicalization program, he had faced prosecution for criminal offenses.

It remains unclear when the reported rape took place, but Shamie had been bailed while being investigated by Greater Manchester police.

An insider indicated that he had additional criminal convictions, albeit for minor infractions unrelated to terrorist activities.

“He was on nobody’s radar for terrorism but he definitely had a history of crime, though nothing to suggest he was going to do anything like this,” an informant remarked.

Authorities are looking into whether Shamie sent a death threat to a former Conservative MP in 2012.

The email to John Howell came from someone calling themselves “Jihad Alshamie” and stated, “It is people like you who deserve to die.”

Howell, who left his position as MP for Henley in 2024, expressed uncertainty if it was the identical individual and believed that authorities did not treat the threat against his life seriously enough back then.

Media coverage from that year suggested that Howell may have been singled out due to his pro-Israel stance.

“I don’t want to seem overdramatic, but you have to take seriously a menacing message when it says, ‘I would like to see you dead,’” Howell remarked at the time, according to coverage from media outlets.

“It is not just a question of me, it is my family and my staff. All it takes is one person out there who is unstable enough, with a warped perspective of life, to make an attempt to act on it.” He added that local police had given him “extremely good security advice.”

Police have yet to verify whether the “Jihad Alshamie” who contacted the former MP is the same individual who committed the assault on the synagogue, but they are investigating a potential connection.

Shabana Mahmood, Shabana Mahmood, stated that Shamie was not under ongoing scrutiny by counter-terrorism police or intelligence services at the time of the attack. They did not believe he had ever been on their radar, though inquiries were still ongoing.