Overview
- FBI Detroit, at a Monday news conference, labeled the March 12 attack on Temple Israel a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.
- Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, drove a Ford F-150 packed with gasoline and fireworks into the West Bloomfield synagogue, exchanged gunfire with security, and died by a self-inflicted shot.
- Minutes before the assault he sent his sister videos saying he had booby-trapped the car and planned to kill as many people as possible, after days of researching Jewish sites and buying an AR-style rifle, ammunition, fireworks, and fuel.
- Investigators reported no evidence of co-conspirators, no prior watch-list alerts, and no verified Hezbollah membership, while the U.S. attorney said he would have faced a material-support charge if alive.
- Officials said Ghazali had consumed pro-Hezbollah content for months, his family members were reported killed in an Israeli airstrike a week earlier, and preschoolers and staff at the large Reform synagogue were spared by trained guards and quick response.