Chair of trustees Alan Levy had been informed of a suspicious character prior to the Manchester synagogue terror attack that left two dead on Yom Kippur.
"I was outside on the grounds of the synagogue because there had been reports of a suspicious character who was asking for directions to a place futher down the road, and he never went to those directions," he recalled.
The attacker, 35-year old Jihad al-Shamie, appeared right in front of where Levy was standing, outside of the synagogue.
"I spoke to him and asked him what he's doing here," said Levy. He said, 'its a free country, I can go where I like. I'm not committing any offense.' He then wandered off."
Attacker carried suspicious backpack
Levy explains that even after he saw Shamie go, he was still concerned.
"It just didn't look right. I was concerned about the backpack he had on his back, and it is unusual for someone to start going all the way around the synagogue.
I said to the security guard, you have to ring the Community Security Trust (CST) and see if they believe the police need to come, because this is very suspicious."
The CST is a British charity that provides safety, security, and advice to the UK's Jewish community, according to the organization's mission statement.
"As I'm walking into the car park, I heard this car revving a lot," recalled Levy. "And as I turn around, I see it smashed straight into the security guard and into the gates.
"He jumped out and attacked one of the volunteer security guards, and he gets into the [synagogue] grounds waving this knife," he said.
"I run through the car park, up the steps, open the door, slam it shut, and lock it."
The synagogue chairman described the attacker trying to knife his way in as soon as the door was locked shut.
"Then all of the members of the synagogue came out," he continued, "brave people, because he was shoulder-barging the door."
When asked about whether he realizes that it could have been much worse had it not been for his actions, Levy said it was God that told him what to do in that moment.
"Thank God, he told me what to do, and I went in and did it."
Levy pays tribute to community members
"We have to pay tribute to all the people from the community who were inside as well, who came and helped, there was a number who came to keep the doors close.
If he had gotten through those doors, I don't think I would be standing here now."
Finally, he reflected on the rise of antisemitic incidents in the UK.
"We're not gonna be cowered by terrorists, we're not gonna let terrorists like him defeat us, and stop us from practicing our Jewish faith.
Stand proud, we're Jewish, we won't let him beat us."
A son's heroic father
Yoni Finlay was another synagogue-goer that barricaded the door in an attempt to block the terrorist from entering.
His son, who had planned to go to the synagogue 30 minutes after the attack, praised him for being a hero.
"Rabbi Walker and my dad were one of the many people that barricaded the door and stopped the terrorist from entering the shul," he said.
Finlay was injured by a police's bullet that punctured the door and hit him in the chest.
He is one of the three victims that were injured in the attack.
"I spoke to a couple of people, and they told me that he just wasn't going to let him in and he was blocking the door the whole time, making sure he couldn't enter," recalled his son.
"He's a hero, he stopped loads of deaths from happening, and I hope he knows that."
Neighbors pay tribute to victim
Neighbors paid tribute to Melvin Cravitz, 66, who was one of the two victims who died in the terror attack, remembering him as an exemplary neighbor.
"He was a very good neighbor and like family," recalled one neighbor. "Sometimes when our clothes was outside, he would knock on our door and tell us, 'take them, it's raining.'"
He had common courtesy, to everybody, irrelevant of your race or religion," said another local resident.