Detroit-Area Shooting Being Investigated As Targeted Attack Against Jewish Community, FBI Says
A suspect has died after a vehicle‑ramming and shooting attack at a Detroit‑area synagogue that sent dozens of first responders to the hospital on Thursday, in what the FBI says was a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.
What Happened at the Detroit-Area Synagogue?
According to CBS News, the FBI said the attack was “a targeted attack of violence against the Jewish community.” Thirty first responders were hospitalized for treatment of smoke inhalation. But 140 children inside the building walked out alive — and that, officials say, is nothing short of remarkable. It could have been so much worse. Around 1:35 p.m. Thursday, police responded to reports of shots fired near Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, a suburb northwest of Detroit.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said the attacker drove through the building’s front doors and down a hallway before security engaged him with gunfire. The suspect was found dead in the vehicle; the FBI later said he died of a self‑inflicted gunshot wound during an exchange of gunfire with security. The attacker was identified as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. He was a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon.
He was armed with a rifle. His truck also contained fireworks and an unidentified chemical agent that ignited shortly after the crash, according to law enforcement sources, sending thick smoke billowing through the building and into the surrounding area. The source of the ignition is still under investigation.
When Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny got the text, she was still in her car heading to work. A staff member had messaged her: they were hiding under a desk. There were gunshots. Kaluzny drove directly to Temple Israel but was not allowed inside. So she made her way to a reunification site, where panicked parents were already gathering, desperate for word on their children.
All students, staff and teachers were accounted for. In a statement at a press briefing obtained by ABC News, Sheriff Bouchard said, “The security staff did an amazing job, an amazing job.” He added, “They stopped the threat.” One security guard was struck by the suspect’s truck and knocked unconscious, but he is expected to be fine.
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Who Was the Suspect in the Detroit Synagogue Attack?
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Ghazali entered the United States in May 2011 on an immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in February 2016. Investigators searched a Michigan home associated with Ghazali following the attack.
Ghazali came to the United States legally in May 2011, entering through Detroit Metropolitan International Airport on an IR1 visa, a spousal immigrant visa. His then-wife, a U.S. citizen, had sponsored him. He applied for U.S. citizenship in October 2015 and was granted it a year later in February 2016.
What changed him? According to a source from the Lebanese American Community in Dearborn, Michigan, Ghazali suffered a personal loss. CBS News did not name the specific individual. About 10 days before the attack, an Israeli airstrike struck a village in southern Lebanon and killed two of Ghazali’s brothers, along with several other family members.
During the airstrike, one of his sisters-in-law was wounded, and two young children of one of his brothers were also killed in the strike. Ghazali wasn’t on an FBI watchlist and had no criminal record. Although the attack was bad, it could have been a lot worse were it not for the brave souls who intervened in the incident. Thankfully, all of the students, staff and teachers are okay.
