Family of Michigan synagogue taking pictures suspect ‘killed in latest airstrikes’ as investigators probe potential motive

The man accused of plowing into a Michigan synagogue on Thursday morning recently lost multiple family members in an Israeli strike on Lebanon. 

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, allegedly drove his truck filled with explosives and mortar shells into the Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, which also serves as a preschool, igniting a blaze.

Ghazali, a naturalized US citizen from Lebanon and a restaurant worker in nearby Dearborn Heights, reportedly lost two of his brothers and two of their children in the strike ten days ago, a source told CBS News. One of his sisters-in-law was also hospitalized.

The attacks were part of a series of air strikes Israel has carried out against Lebanon during their joint operation against Iran, following Hezbollah strikes against Israel after the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khomenei.  

Mo Baydoun, the mayor of Dearborn Heights, said that Ghazali ‘lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon.’ 

The source said that Ghazali had been devastated by the loss of his brothers and their children and withdrew, stopping working and staying alone at home.

His ex-wife was alarmed when, shortly before the attack, he allegedly phoned her and asked her to take care of their children.  

The assailant then opened fire, and was killed by a security guard, with authorities saying they later found him inside the vehicle armed with a rifle.

‘He breached the building, drove down the hall, and he was engaged by security,’ Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said of the armed attacker. ‘We can’t say what killed him at this point, but security did engage the suspect with gunfire.’ 

Ghazali was born in Lebanon in 1985 and entered the United States through Detroit Metropolitan International Airport on May 10, 2011, after alien relative and fiancé petitions filed in December 2009 were approved in April 2010, according to the New York Post

He then applied for naturalization on October 20, 2015 and became a citizen on February 5, 2016, under the Obama administration, the outlet said. 

Federal authorities said at a news conference that they are probing it as a ‘targeted act of violence’ against the Jewish community.  

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 WDIV, 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 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.’