The man who rammed a truck into a West Bloomfield Township synagogue this week killed himself inside the facility when confronted by security, according to new details provided by the FBI on Friday, March 13.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after he drove his truck into Temple Israel, said Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the Detroit FBI field office. She also confirmed he had a large amount of commercial fireworks and gasoline in the back of his truck.
Runyan and other law enforcement officials did not comment on a specific motive for the attack, although several sources told the Free Press four of Ghazali’s relatives recently died in an Israeli strike in Lebanon.
Ghazali sat in his gray Ford F-150 truck in the parking lot of Temple Israel for more than two hours Thursday before ultimately driving it through Door 5 in the southeast corner of the building, Runyan said. The truck became jammed in a hallway, and he was unable to exit the truck, she said. He was confronted by at least two security officers before shooting himself, she said.
He has no previous criminal history, no registered weapons and was never the subject of a previous FBI investigation.
Ghazali, 41, lived in Dearborn Heights. Born in Lebanon, he immigrated in 2011 and became a U.S. citizen in 2016.
Law enforcement officials say the attack happened shortly after noon on Thursday. A resulting fire at the synagogue was extinguished.
One of the security guards was hit by the truck and slightly injured. None of the roughly 140 staff members or children at the facility’s child care center were harmed. Dozens of first responders were later treated for smoke inhalation, Bouchard said.
On Thursday, Runyan said the FBI is reviewing the attack as a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.”
On Friday, a secretary at the Islamic Institute of America said the large Dearborn Heights mosque recently held a service to remember Ghazali’s family members killed in Lebanon.
NBC News reported after the death of his relatives but before his attack at the synagogue, Ghazali bought $2,000 worth of fireworks from a metro Detroit fireworks store. A store employee told the news outlet they provided information about the purchase to federal officials in response to a subpoena.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Temple Israel attacker shot and killed himself when confronted, FBI says
Reporting by Dave Boucher, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
