WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. — A gunman who rammed his vehicle into Temple Israel synagogue Thursday afternoon was killed by security guards after driving through the building’s front doors while 140 children attended preschool classes inside.
The FBI is investigating the attack as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community,” with federal officials identifying the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon. The incident unfolded amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, where the U.S. and Israel are battling Iran. No children, staff or congregants were injured in the attack at one of the nation’s largest Reform Jewish synagogues, which serves about 3,500 families in the Detroit metropolitan area.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the attack began at 12:19 p.m. when Ghazali’s truck swerved around security bollards and crashed through Temple Israel’s front entrance. “The truck contained fireworks and an unidentified chemical agent that ignited soon after the crash,” Bouchard told reporters at a Thursday evening press conference. “The security staff did an amazing job, an amazing job. They stopped the threat.” Armed with a rifle, Ghazali drove down a hallway inside the building before security personnel engaged him in a gunfight. The vehicle caught fire during the confrontation, and it remains unclear whether Ghazali died from gunfire or took his own life while trapped inside the burning truck.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Ghazali entered the United States in May 2011 on an immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and became a naturalized citizen in February 2016. He was originally from Mashghara, a town in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley, and was a resident of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. According to a Lebanese official and Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun, Ghazali lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon last week, including two adult brothers who were members of Hezbollah, along with his niece and nephew. “Earlier this month, he lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon,” Baydoun wrote on social media. Federal investigators searched a Michigan home associated with the suspect Thursday evening.
The attack occurred during a particularly tense period for Jewish communities nationwide, with antisemitic incidents rising since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023. Temple Israel had recently enhanced its security measures and participated in FBI-led active shooter training in January. Sheriff Bouchard revealed that law enforcement had been in regular contact with area religious institutions for two weeks prior to the attack. “We’ve been talking for two weeks about the potential, sadly, for this happening, so there was no lack of preparation,” he said. The synagogue’s security preparations proved crucial, as Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny noted that “all of the training that we do is, sadly, necessary, but we saw today that it paid off.”
The building fire that erupted after the crash sent 30 law enforcement officers to hospitals for smoke inhalation treatment, with the structure becoming “engulfed” in flames according to Bouchard. One synagogue security guard was struck by Ghazali’s vehicle and knocked unconscious but was expected to recover. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the source of the ignition. FBI Special Agent Jennifer Runyan, who leads the Detroit field office, declined to provide additional details about the suspect’s motives, citing the need to “protect the integrity of this investigation.” She confirmed that federal authorities are treating the incident as terrorism. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemned the attack as “hate, plain and simple,” while President Donald Trump called it a “terrible thing” during a White House event.
Parents and grandparents rushed to the scene after receiving emergency alerts about an active shooter, with many gathering at nearby Shenandoah Country Club where children were evacuated for safety. Lisa Stern, a Temple Israel member for more than 20 years, described seeing “anxious parents and grandparents arriving to make sure their children were safe.” She noted that “at first, when they didn’t know, the parents were like falling to the ground.” Rabbi Arianna Gordon acknowledged the community’s shock, saying “there’s so much that we don’t know. We’re going to be processing all of this in the days and weeks to come.” Temple Israel posted on Facebook that its “teachers followed their training and kept the children safe and calm,” praising the “heroic security personnel” who confronted the attacker. The synagogue thanked local law enforcement and the country club that provided shelter during the emergency response.
Law enforcement agencies from across the region responded with approximately 80 police vehicles lining Walnut Lake Road for about one mile near the synagogue. Jewish organizations throughout Michigan implemented precautionary lockdowns, while police departments in New York City and Washington D.C. increased patrols around Jewish cultural institutions. The investigation remains active as federal authorities work to determine the full scope of Ghazali’s planning and whether he acted alone in the attack on the prominent suburban Detroit synagogue.
