A Lebanese-born American who rammed an explosives-laden truck into a Michigan synagogue died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after engaging in a firefight with armed security, federal authorities said.
According to Fox News, the FBI identified the attacker as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who drove his Ford truck into the entrance of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield around 12:20 p.m. Thursday before emerging with a rifle and exchanging gunfire with security officers. Initial accounts suggested that security personnel had killed the assailant, but investigators later determined that Ghazali took his own life during the confrontation, underscoring both the effectiveness and the limits of on-site security in the face of escalating threats to religious institutions.
His engine compartment catches on fire, and at some point during the gunfight, Ghazali suffers a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, FBI Special Agent Jennifer Runyan told reporters on Friday. In the bed of the truck, we found large quantities of commercial-grade fireworks and several jugs of flammable liquid we believe to be gasoline, some of which has been consumed in the fire.
Authorities say Ghazali appears to have targeted the synagogue after losing relatives in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Lebanon, a reminder of how foreign wars can fuel radicalized violence on American soil. Mo Baydoun, the mayor of Dearborn Heights, confirmed in a social media statement that Ghazali lived in the city and had recently suffered family losses.
Earlier today, we learned that the individual responsible for the incident that took place at Temple Israel Synagogue in West Bloomfield was a resident of Dearborn Heights. He died at the scene, Baydoun said. Earlier this month, he lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon.
Baydoun condemned the assault and urged residents of his heavily Muslim community to remain alert, especially as we gather during these sacred final days of Ramadan. Records show Ghazali was born in Lebanon in 1985, entered the United States in May 2011 as the spouse of a U.S. citizen on an IR1 visa, applied for naturalization in 2015, and was granted citizenship in 2016, raising renewed questions about vetting, assimilation, and the growing security risks facing American synagogues and other houses of worship.
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