A man crashed his vehicle into a synagogue in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, on Thursday before opening fire on law enforcement. He was later found dead in his car.
The same day, authorities also announced that one person was killed when a gunman opened fire at Old Dominion University in Virginia, in an attack that is being investigated as an “act of terrorism.”
The United States has been on high alert for domestic attacks after it launched its war against Iran alongside Israel on February 28, now in its 14th day.
Here is more information about what happened.
What happened at the Michigan synagogue?
On Thursday at 05:33 GMT, FBI Director Kash Patel announced on X that FBI personnel were responding to an apparent vehicle crash and “active shooter situation” at the Temple Israel synagogue in Michigan.
Oakland Sheriff Mike Bouchard told reporters that a car had been crashed into the synagogue, which also houses an early learning center for children. The driver then shot at the security personnel there.
“Security saw him and they shot him,” Bouchard said.
The attacker was later found dead in the vehicle, which had caught fire, Bouchard said. It is unclear how the fire started. The cause of death was not immediately clear, but authorities later said he had been fatally shot by security officers.
Bouchard said there were no others injured in the incident and that no synagogue staff, teachers or the 140 children present at its early childhood center were injured.
However, 30 law enforcement officers were taken to the hospital after inhaling smoke that filled the synagogue from the fire that broke out in the gunman’s vehicle, Bouchard said. A security officer was struck by the vehicle and knocked unconscious, but was otherwise uninjured.
Where did the car hit?
The incident took place at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
West Bloomfield is a lake township and one of the suburbs surrounding Detroit. These suburbs are home to a large Jewish population.
Temple Israel was founded in 1941. It is considered the largest Reform synagogue in the United States and has about 12,000 members.
What do we know about the attacker and his motive?
Authorities identified the attacker as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Ghazali came to the United States in 2011 on a relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen. He received his citizenship in 2016.
“I can confirm that the FBI is leading this investigation as an act of violence directed against the Jewish community,” Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan of the FBI’s Detroit field office said during a news conference in Michigan on Thursday.
What happened in Virginia?
The FBI identified the gunman who opened fire at Old Dominion University as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a former Army National Guard member who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to ISIL (ISIS).
Authorities said Jalloh opened fire shortly before 10:49 a.m. local time (2:49 p.m. GMT) in Constant Hall, the center of the university’s business school.
In a post on X on Thursday afternoon, Patel said the students had helped subdue Jalloh, who was later found dead at the scene. It was not immediately clear how he was killed.
“The shooter has died thanks to a group of brave students who intervened and subdued him, actions that undoubtedly saved lives along with the quick response of the authorities,” Patel said.
While it is unclear what the attacker’s motive was – or who his targets were – the incident is being investigated as an “act of terror.”
Has there been an increase in the number of such incidents in recent years?
Yes. Attacks against Jewish and Muslim communities around the world have been on the rise since Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza began in October 2023.
Attacks against the Jewish community
The Jewish advocacy group Anti-Defamation League counted 9,354 anti-Semitic incidents in the United States in 2024, a 5 percent increase from 2023 and a record since it began tracking in 1979. The group said the figure represented a 344 percent increase over the past five years and an 893 percent increase over the past decade.
In late January, a car crashed into the entrance to the headquarters of a Jewish religious order in New York City. No injuries were reported. Police are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
In May 2025, two Israeli diplomats were shot and killed outside an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee in Washington, DC.
The gunman, accused of terrorism and hate crimes, is believed to have been motivated by the conflict between Israel and Gaza.
He told police at the scene, “I did it for Palestine, I did it for Gaza,” according to charging documents. Witnesses reported hearing him sing “Free Palestine” after he was detained.
In February 2025, Florida authorities launched a hate crimes investigation after a man opened fire on two men he thought were Palestinians but who turned out to be Israeli visitors.
The victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other in the forearm.
This pattern has also been observed beyond the United States. Early Friday morning, Dutch police opened an investigation into an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam. No one was injured in the fire, which is now over, and no arrests have been made, city police said.
In December 2025, two gunmen killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. The shooting was the deadliest attack of its kind in 30 years in the country.
Suspect Sajid Akram, 50, an Indian national, was shot dead by police during the attack. His son, Naveed, an Australian citizen who remains in prison, has been charged with terrorism and 15 murders.
Similarly, since Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza began, hate crimes against Muslims in the United States and beyond have increased.
On Tuesday, the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released an annual report saying the United States has become an increasingly hostile environment for Muslims.
CAIR said its offices across the country had received 8,683 complaints of anti-Muslim discrimination nationwide in 2025, a slight increase from the previous year.
It was the highest volume of complaints for CAIR since it began publishing its civil rights report in 1996.
In February this year, the Manchester Central Mosque in the United Kingdom reported that a man carrying an ax had entered the mosque during tarawih prayers attended by worshipers during Ramadan. Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said a man in his 20s had been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit section 18 assault.
There were around 2,000 worshipers inside at the time, and GMP later confirmed that the incident was reported by an off-duty special constable who had been present.
In October 2025, police in the United Kingdom said they were investigating an alleged arson attack on a mosque in southern England as a “hate crime.” Officers had been called to the Phyllis Avenue mosque in Peacehaven, East Sussex, shortly before 10pm (10pm GMT) on 4 October.
In October 2023, Wadea al-Fayoume, a six-year-old Palestinian American, was stabbed in Illinois and his mother was seriously injured. The attacker, Joseph Czuba, died at age 73 in June 2025, in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
In November 2023, three young Palestinians were shot near a college campus in Vermont. Police said the victims spoke Arabic and that two of them were wearing a keffiyeh when they were attacked. The students survived. Police arrested suspect Jason J Eaton the same month.
