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Late Thursday night, federal agents conducted a raid on the residence of a Lebanese-born restaurant employee accused of targeting a Michigan synagogue with a truck loaded with explosives. The suspect, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, allegedly attacked Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, a location that also functions as a preschool. This incident followed the loss of several of Ghazali’s family members in an Israeli military strike on Lebanon. During the attack, a security officer was injured by the vehicle, and Ghazali was subsequently shot and killed by a guard at the synagogue around 12:20 p.m. The truck caught fire, leaving the suspect’s body severely burned. Ghazali, who had become a naturalized U.S. citizen, worked in Dearborn Heights, where FBI agents were observed searching his home.
Gunman lost relatives in Israeli airstrike, mayor saysÂ
Mo Baydoun, the mayor of the suburb, revealed that Ghazali had “lost several family members, including his niece and nephew” in an Israeli assault on their residence in Lebanon. According to a CBS News source, this Israeli attack occurred ten days prior, claiming the lives of two of Ghazali’s brothers as well. The Israeli strikes followed the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which had incited increased Hezbollah actions against Israel. The source noted that Ghazali’s ex-wife reported a call from him shortly before the attack, during which he asked her to care for their children. Authorities discovered Ghazali’s body inside the truck, armed with a rifle.
Lebanese-born suspect became US citizen in 2016Â
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard explained during a press briefing that the attacker “breached the building, drove down the hall, and was engaged by security.” Ghazali, born in Lebanon in 1985, entered the U.S. via Detroit Metropolitan International Airport on May 10, 2011. His entry was facilitated by approved alien relative and fiancé petitions from December 2009. He applied for U.S. citizenship on October 20, 2015, and was granted citizenship on February 5, 2016, during the Obama administration. Documents obtained by the Detroit News reveal that Ghazali’s ex-wife filed for divorce in August 2024 in Wayne County Circuit Court, with the divorce finalized in March 2025. Federal officials are investigating this tragic incident as a “targeted act of violence” against the Jewish community.
Security guard injured after suspect drives vehicle into synagogue
No students or staff were injured in the attack, but a security guard was taken to the hospital after being struck by the vehicle. He is expected to recover. Thirty law enforcement officers were also rushed to a local hospital for smoke inhalation, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said at the news conference. ‘When all of our people collectively went in that building to search out the threat, to remove innocent, a lot of them took in significant amount of smoke inhalation, and they’re at the hospital being treated,’ Bouchard said. The synagogue ‘became engulfed’ in flames. Authorities said they then received a call about an active shooter at the synagogue at 12.19pm, and West Bloomfield police were at the scene within five minutes.
Photos shared online showed a large police presence on the scene with smoke coming out of windows and a vent on the roof. Scores of police vehicles from neighboring departments, a SWAT team, bomb technicians and bomb-sniffing dogs also responded to the scene. The synagogue is a reform Jewish place of worship that was open at the time of the attack. It has one of the largest congregations in the country. One woman who spoke to Michigan WDIV news outlet, named Lisa, said that the preschool was in use at the time. She told the outlet: ‘I’m scared to death for my friends, I’ve never seen anything like this. My first thought was the children. ‘Parents and grandparents are coming and they’re scared to death for their children. This is senseless, this is not okay.’ As she spoke, several adults could be seen embracing one another in tears. Soon after the attack, a spokesman for Michigan State Police said: ‘We are asking for community members to stay away from the area to allow for police response. Troopers are also increasing patrols at other places of worship in the district.’
Sheriff says authorities had feared attack amid rising tensionsÂ
Sheriff Bouchard said law enforcement had been on high alert since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran nearly two weeks ago. ‘We’ve been talking for two weeks about the potential, sadly, of this happening,’ he said. ‘So there was no lack of preparation. The sheriff added: ‘All Jewish facilities in the area are going to have a lot of extra presence around it until we figure this out.’ The Jewish Federation of Detroit has advised all Jewish organizations in the area ‘to go into lockout protocol – nobody in or out of your building’. FBI Detroit led an Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness (ASAPP) training for the clergy and staff of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield in late January, nearly two months before Thursday’s attack.
‘The FBI course combines lessons learned from years of research and employs scenario-based exercises to help participants practice the decision-making process of the Run, Hide, Fight principles and take necessary actions for survival,’ the agency wrote in a post on X. ‘We appreciate them for having us. Our Division has partnered with many organizations in Michigan and is committed to protecting schools, workplaces, houses of worship, medical facilities, transportation centers, government facilities, other public gathering sites, and communities.’ Sheriff Bouchard has praised Temple Israel security for their response to the active shooter. ‘I’m deeply proud of the response not only from the security that was on site but also of all the police officers and the firefighters that are here now,’ she said. ‘Training certainly helped to mitigate what happened here today. ‘Everything that was supposed to happen, happened. Security did their job, and then the responders did theirs.’
