Man in Michigan Synagogue Attack Had Family Killed in Israeli Airstrike in Lebanon, Official Says

A week before he armed himself with a rifle and rammed a vehicle into a synagogue outside Detroit, Lebanese-born Ayman Mohammad Ghazali learned that four family members had been killed by an Israeli airstrike in his native country, officials said Friday.

Ghazali, 41, crashed into Temple Israel on Thursday afternoon, got his vehicle stuck in a hallway and started firing his gun through the windshield, said Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, during a news conference Friday.

An armed security officer shot at Ghazali through the vehicle’s back window. Ghazali used his own weapon to fatally shoot himself, Runyan said.

Following the attack Thursday, a source speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said security guards in the building killed the gunman. Later, authorities said guards “neutralized” him.

The vehicle’s engine caught fire, and officials later found large quantities of commercial grade fireworks and several jugs of a liquid believed to be gasoline.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues, located in suburban West Bloomfield Township north of Detroit, as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community.

None of the 140 children, teachers and staff inside the synagogue were injured, authorities said.

The agency has not provided an exact motive for the attack. “We’re just 30 hours into this, and we’re letting the facts and evidence lead,” Runyan said.

Temple Israel had taken steps to prepare for an attack. Last summer, the synagogue announced it was hiring a former local police lieutenant as its full-time head of security to oversee its in-house, armed security guards. Earlier this year, its clergy and staff underwent active shooter prevention and preparedness training, according to a post on Temple Israel’s Facebook page.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin during a news conference Friday praised Temple Israel’s private security for swiftly stopping the attack.

“If they had not all done their jobs almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here with children gone,” Slotkin said.

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