WEST BLOOMFIELD (WWJ) -- Local, state and federal authorities are working to learn more about a man who drove a pickup truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township on Thursday.
He has been identified as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized United States citizen born in Lebanon.
Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, was granted U.S. citizenship in 2016, and lived in Dearborn Heights.
Dearborn Heights mayor Mo Baydoun said that members of Ghazali’s family, including his niece and nephew, were recently killed in an Israeli air strike on their home in Lebanon.
Thursday afternoon, authorities said Ghazali crashed his truck right through the doors of the synagogue building, on Walnut Lake Rd., drove down the hall and hit a security guard, before he was shot and killed.
The truck caught fire and sent smoke billowing.
The building was evacuated, including the temple's early childhood center.
None of the synagogue’s staff, teachers or the 140 children at the center were injured.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said the guard who was hit was knocked unconscious, but did not suffer life-threatening injuries. A total of 30 members of law enforcement were treated for injuries related to the smoke and fire in the building.
Mayor Baydoun said they've increased patrols around houses of worship in the Dearborn Heights, as a precaution.
He urged calm and compassion in the diverse community.
"There is never an excuse for violence, especially violence directed as a sacred space," the mayor said, addressing reporters Friday. "Our Jewish brothers and sisters deserve to worship without fear."
Baydoun urged anyone who sees anything suspicious, regarding threats or retaliatory activity, to call Dearborn Height Police.
At a news conference Friday morning, WWJ's Charlie Langton asked Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer if she thinks this happened because of recent attacks on Iran.
"Putting my theories into the press is not going to help an investigation, so I'm going to refrain from that," Whitmer said. "I do know that we have seen a rise in antisemitism, we have seen it over many years, predating the conflict."
"But certainly, it is at a historic high," the governor added, "and I worry that that will continue. And that's why I'm calling on anyone with a platform to be very responsible with their rhetoric; not to identify or target the Jewish community. That is antisemitism writ large, and I don't any of us should permit or allow that to stand."
While the FBI acknowledged that this was a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community, Bouchard said it will take some time before a motive is definitively known.
"What drove this person into action, that has to be determined by the investigation," Bouchard said, at a news conference Thursday evening. "All of us have thoughts of maybe why this happened, but we don't operate in a world where we can presume something. We have to determine it through investigation and specificity, and that is a work that is in progress as we speak."
"All of us will work seamlessly together to get the answers, and then it will be called what it is," Bouchard said. "Obviously, it's a hateful, terrible, terrible things."
A Dearborn Heights neighbor of Ghazali said he was a "nice guy," and that there had been no prior signs of violent behavior.
Reports said he worked at Hamido, a popular Mediterranean restaurant, known for its chicken shawarma.
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