Michigan synagogue attacker lost family in Israeli airstrike on Lebanon, mayor says
The suspect who rammed his vehicle into a Michigan synagogue has been identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon.
Ghazali was killed in the attack on the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, a security guard was injured, and the temple itself was partially burned in a fire resulting from the crash into its hallway.
His identity was confirmed by the Department of Homeland Security.
A neighbor of Ghazali told The Detroit Free Press he lived in Dearborn Heights, just west of Detroit, and recently lost family members in an Israeli strike on his homeland as part of Operation Epic Fury.
Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun subsequently said in a statement that the suspect “lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon” earlier this month.
The neighbour said he had also lost a brother in the strike, adding that she had planned to bring him flowers and expressing shock at his death, describing him as “my rock,” according to the Free Press.
“He was the best,” she said. “The best neighbor. Always quiet, a hard worker. He was always pleasant. Everybody liked him.”
Ghazali was born in Lebanon in January 1985 and entered the U.S. in May 2010 on an IR1 immigrant visa after marrying an American citizen, the DHS said.
He applied for naturalization in 2015 and was duly granted citizenship on February 5, 2016.
Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office, called the crime a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community” and said at a news conference Thursday that the FBI is leading the investigation.
Investigators have not yet determined a motive.
“What drove this person into action has to be determined by the investigation,” said Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.
None of the synagogue’s staff, teachers or the 140 children at its early childhood center were injured, Bouchard said.
In the minutes after the attack, smoke billowed from the synagogue. The aforementioned security guard was hit by Ghazali’s vehicle and knocked unconscious but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, Bouchard said.
Thirty law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation.
Cassi Cohen, director of strategic development at Temple Israel, was in the hallway where the crash happened. She described hearing a loud bang and said she grabbed a few staff members, ran into her office, and locked the door.
“When I heard the crash, I knew it was bad,” Cohen said.
She said the crash happened near a classroom and that, in addition to the children, more than 30 staff members were present.
Rabbi Arianna Gordon of Temple Israel thanked the security team, law enforcement and early childhood teachers for getting the children out safely and reuniting them with their parents, describing the ordeal as “a really incredibly scary afternoon.”
About a dozen parents sprinted to retrieve their kids soon after authorities cleared the building. Other families were reunited at a nearby Jewish Community Center.
Allison Jacobs, whose 18-month-old daughter is enrolled in Temple Israel’s day care, said she received a message from a teacher saying the children were OK, even before she knew what had happened.
“There are no words. I was in complete and utter shock,” she said.
Synagogues around the world have been on edge and ramping up security since the U.S. and Israel launched their first missile strikes against Iran on February 28.
President Donald Trump said he had been fully briefed on Thursday’s attack, calling it a “terrible thing.”
Steven Ingber, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, said: “I’d love to say that I’m shocked, that I’m surprised, but I’m not.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
