The armed suspect who drove a vehicle into the hallway of a large Michigan synagogue complex that includes a school had lost four members of his family in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, an official said Friday.
A potential mass-casualty event was averted when security guards already at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, outside Detroit, killed the driver before harm could come to synagogue staff, teachers and 140 children at the early childhood center there Thursday afternoon.
Authorities later identified the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, who was born in Lebanon and had become a naturalized U.S. citizen.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the country’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence directed at the Jewish community.
Ghazali came to the United States in 2011 on a family visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
An Israeli airstrike killed four people in the eastern Lebanese city of Mashgharah on March 5, Lebanon’s state agency and the Lebanese Ministry of Health reported. A woman was also injured.
Coinciding with the US and Israeli attacks on Iran that began late last month, Israel also began once again attacking its neighbor Lebanon in an effort to root out Iranian-backed Hezbollah militancy.
The bombing of Lebanon, which continues, marked a significant escalation in Israel’s growing offensive there, which began after Hezbollah fired missiles and drones at Israel in early March in retaliation for attacks on Iran, as the conflict rapidly escalated and expanded.
A local official in Mashgharah, central Lebanon, told the Associated Press on Friday that Ghazali’s two brothers and a niece and nephew were killed in their home in the March 5 airstrike just after sunset while they were eating their fasting meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The official, who requested anonymity because he could not publicly discuss the details of the airstrike, told the AP that Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali were killed, along with Ibrahim Ghazali’s children, Ali and Fatima. Ibrahim Ghazali’s wife was seriously injured and remains in hospital, the official said.
The official said Kassim Ghazali was a well-known football coach and personal trainer, while Ibrahim was a school bus driver in the village. The official added that Ayman Ghazali’s father was in the United States and recently returned to Lebanon.
Thursday’s incident at the Michigan synagogue caused the vehicle driven by the suspect to catch fire and black smoke could be seen billowing from the building.
A security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious, but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, local Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said. And 30 law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation.
Cassi Cohen, director of strategic development for Temple Israel, was in the hallway where the accident occurred. She described hearing a loud bang and said she grabbed some staff members, ran to her office and closed the door.
“When I heard the crash, I knew it was bad,” Cohen said.
He said the accident occurred near a classroom and that, in addition to the children, there were also more than 30 staff members at the synagogue.
Rabbi Arianna Gordon of Temple Israel thanked the security team, law enforcement and early childhood teachers for safely removing the children and reuniting with their parents amid the chaos and fear.
About a dozen parents ran to pick up their children shortly after authorities cleared the building. Other families gathered at a nearby Jewish community center.
Allison Jacobs, whose 18-month-old daughter is enrolled in Temple Israel daycare, said she received a message from a teacher telling her the children were fine before she even knew what happened.
“There are no words. I was in complete and utter shock,” he said.
Synagogues around the world have been on edge and have further increased security since the United States and Israel launched a war against Iran with missile strikes on February 28.
Donald Trump said Thursday, “It’s unbelievable that things like this happen” and called the Michigan attack “a terrible thing.”
However, Steven Ingber, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, said: “I would love to say that I’m shocked, that I’m surprised, but I’m not.”
Oakland County is the second largest county in Michigan with approximately 1.3 million residents. Most Jewish residents of the Detroit area live there. Temple Israel has 12,000 members, according to its website.
In a similar moment to the synagogue attack, a gunman killed one person and wounded two in a shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
That incident also could have resulted in more carnage after the suspect opened fire in a classroom of students undergoing military training with the Reserve Officer Training Corps, a university program, but was subdued and killed by some of the students.
Authorities later identified the suspect as Mohamed Jalloh, a former member of the army national guard who pleaded guilty in 2016 to attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State. Authorities said he shouted the Arabic phrase “Allahu Akbar,” which means Allah is greatest, or God is great, and the FBI is investigating the shooting as a suspected act of terrorism.
