Overview
- Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a Lebanon-born U.S. citizen, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as the attacker.
- He drove a truck through the West Bloomfield synagogue’s entrance and down a hallway before security engaged him and the vehicle caught fire.
- The FBI is leading the probe as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community, and bomb technicians continue to clear the vehicle and building.
- All 140 preschool children and staff were accounted for and unharmed, the temple’s security director was hospitalized and is recovering, and at least 63 responders were treated for smoke inhalation.
- Officials and Jewish security leaders credit training, drills and a rapid multiagency response with preventing mass casualties, while investigators review reports that Ghazali recently lost relatives in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon.