Michigan Synagogue Attack Was Hezbollah-Inspired, Targeted Children: FBI

DETROIT—Investigators said the March 12 attack on a West Bloomfield synagogue was a “Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism.”

Suspect Ayman Ghazali wanted to kill as many Jews as possible and likened himself to being a soldier of Hezbollah, and his act of terrorism was inspired by the Lebanese Shiite Muslim terrorist group, according to investigators who laid out the final day of his life at a press conference on March 30 at the Detroit FBI office.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said the investigation has not produced any evidence of any co-conspirators and said Ghazali had no criminal record and was not on a terrorist watch list.

Investigators revealed some details of his final day, including many of the messages that he posted on social media and videos that he sent to his sister just minutes before starting his attack.

As Ghazali sat in his truck in the parking lot of a Jewish synagogue 10 minutes before implementing his plan to kill Jews, including preschool children, the Dearborn Heights man sent a video to his sister.

“This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the State of Michigan in the United States,” Ghazali said. “I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting at them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.”

According to investigators, Ghazali drove his truck, which he had loaded with gasoline and high-end fireworks, into Temple Israel synagogue, where he was met by armed security guards, and his vehicle became stuck. No one was harmed inside the synagogue, and Ghazali ended up killing himself.

U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon said that Ghazali’s phone and the videos that he watched “were filled with [Hezbollah] propaganda.”

Ghazali spent a lot of time researching where he would attack. Investigators said he chose Temple Israel because it had the largest gathering of Jewish people.

Gorgon said Ghazali believed that he was on a “special operation” to kill as many Jews as he possibly could.

His preparations included an attempt to find out online what time lunch was served at Temple Israel, which has an early learning center for preschool-age children on its premises, according to investigators.

Investigators said that after Ghazali sent the threatening video to his sister, she contacted the police and asked them to do a welfare check on him.

Ghazali has two brothers who live in Lebanon, according to investigators.

Investigators said their investigation included a review of more than 100 digital items and more than 100 interviews with Ghazali’s family and associates.

Temple Israel posted a response to the attack on its website.

“Everyone is safe. All 106 students, our teachers, our staff, and our heroic security team are accounted for,” Temple Israel stated. “Our Director of Security is recovering, and he is in all of our hearts.

“Temple Israel was targeted. Our people were ready. They protected our children with courage, training, and extraordinary strength.”

Ghazali, 41, was identified as the suspect a day after the attack by the FBI.

Runyan posted an update the day after the attack and stated that Ghazali had no previous criminal history and had not registered any weapons. He was also never part of any previous FBI investigation, Runyan said.

According to the FBI timeline, Ghazali drove his Ford F-150 truck into the Temple Israel parking lot at 9:58 a.m. local time. He then sat in the truck until 12:15 p.m. before driving his truck into a door, hitting a security guard who was on his way into the building at about 12:20 p.m.

The truck became jammed between hallway walls, and Ghazali started firing through the windshield of his vehicle. Two security officers began shooting back.

At 12:31 p.m., Ghazali’s vehicle caught fire, and he shot himself in the head. Law enforcement later found a large quantity of commercial-grade fireworks and several jugs filled with a flammable liquid that police believe was gasoline, some of which was consumed in the fire.

The FBI said earlier in March that it had found no indication that the attack was connected with a separate shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.