A 41-year-old man died Thursday after driving his pickup truck into a synagogue outside Detroit. The assault ignited a fire and drew a massive law enforcement response to the suburban Michigan community.
Security personnel shot the attacker after he crashed through the entrance of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard. The Department of Homeland Security named the assailant as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a Lebanon-born man who arrived in Detroit in 2011.
He entered the United States on a visa for spouses of American citizens and naturalized in 2016. US media outlets reported that Ghazali had recently suffered family losses in Israeli military action in Lebanon, connected to the expanding Middle East conflict.
“recently lost family in an Israeli strike in Lebanon,”
A community source informed CBS News the strike happened approximately ten days before the synagogue attack.
“killed several of his family members, leaving him devastated,”
Ghazali smashed his vehicle through the synagogue doors and continued driving down an interior hallway before encountering security staff. Bouchard confirmed that guards fired upon the suspect during the confrontation.
“We can’t say what killed him at this point, but security did engage the suspect with gunfire,”
No synagogue employees or children sustained injuries during the incident, the sheriff announced at an evening briefing. However, the resulting blaze required extensive evacuation efforts that sent 30 officers to hospital treatment for smoke inhalation.
One security guard suffered injuries from the truck impact, Bouchard noted in earlier remarks. The FBI has assumed jurisdiction over the case, treating it as intentional violence directed at the Jewish community.
“as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community,”
Jennifer Runyan, who leads the bureau’s Detroit field office, delivered this assessment to journalists Thursday. Officials have not released any formal determination regarding the attacker’s motivations. President Donald Trump described the incident as “terrible” when questioned by reporters.
The synagogue assault occurred during a period of intensified security measures nationwide, following the commencement of joint US-Israeli military operations against Iran nearly two weeks ago.
That conflict has subsequently widened across the Middle East region. In Lebanon, government figures released Thursday indicated Israeli attacks have claimed 687 lives. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that military operations there were “expanding.”