Men killed in UK synagogue attack were known for generosity, jokes / Photo: Phil Noble - POOL/AFP
Men killed in UK synagogue attack were known for generosity, jokes
Friends and family of the two men killed during an attack on a Manchester synagogue, Adrien Daulby and Melvin Cravitz, were in mourning Friday for the "lovely blokes".
A police officer is believed to have inadvertently shot one of the men as police responded to the attack, which happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
Both men lived in Crumpsall, a suburb of Manchester with an ethnically diverse but tight-knit community where the Heaton Park synagogue is located.
- Adrien Daulby -
"We are heartbroken by his passing," a family member of 53-year-old Daulby posted in a message on his Facebook page.
Demi Daulby asked for privacy "as we grieve and seek the answers we need".
Adrien Daulby's Facebook page, covered in pictures of the flowers and birds in his garden, described him as single.
One neighbour, John Kelly, told The Times, that Daulby had lived at the same address since he was a child and his late father had worked at a Jewish tailoring shop.
Daulby was a "very, very genuine man" and "a good member of the community" who would take his neighbours' bins out for them, Kelly said.
One neighbour, Cookie Vadve, told The Sun daily her granddaughter sobbed when she heard the news.
"All the kids will miss him dearly. He would give them all presents at Christmas and birthdays and ice cream in the summer," she said.
Another neighbour, who gave his name only as Hussain, told The Times he had spoken to Daulby earlier this week, and the man had told him he "was not feeling too good" and "was debating" whether to go to the synagogue.
- Melvin Cravitz -
Friends of Cravitz, 66, told The Daily Telegraph he often came to dinner and was well known locally.
"He was a lovely person. Always with a joke, always making a smile," said Elchonon Cohen.
"He was very beloved. He was a figure round here. If you saw Melvin you stopped and talked," said Elchonon Cohen's wife, Hindi Cohen.
"He had health issues, but he was always with a joke and a smile," she added.
Cravitz had no children of his own, but was a beloved figure for his wife Karen's children from a previous marriage, the Telegraph reported.
"He didn't have immediate family of his own but the family he had he was desperate to connect with," said Hindi Cohen. "This is a tragedy for all of them."
A business register kept by the Companies House agency shows a Melvin Leslie Cravitz, born in March 1959 with an address in Crumpsall.
It says he had served as a director of a management company for an apartment building close to the synagogue. At that time, he gave his occupation as delivery driver.
R.Zarlengo--PV
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