Attack on Michigan temple was Hezbollah-inspired, FBI says

The vehicular attack and shooting at a major Michigan synagogue this month was a “Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism” targeting the Jewish community, the FBI said Monday.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, purchased the AR-style rifle used in the March 9 attack, three days before he rammed his truck loaded with gasoline and fireworks into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield and opened fire, Jennifer Runyan, FBI special agent in charge in Detroit, said at a news conference.

Ghazali, 41, killed himself after exchanging gunfire with security and was unable to get out of his truck, which was stuck inside the building, authorities said. No one else was killed.

“Based on the evidence collected to date, we believe that this attack was a terrorist act inspired by Hezbollah and deliberately targeting the Jewish community,” Runyan said.

Runyan said that 10 minutes before the attack, Ghazali sent a video to his sister, who is in Lebanon and who authorities say did not see it until an hour after the attack.

The message translated in this video: “This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the state of Michigan in the United States. I have booby-trapped the car. I will force my way in and start shooting at them. God willing, I will kill as many as I can.”

Investigators found no evidence of co-conspirators, Runyan said. Ghazali’s sister at one point asked her to stop messaging her, she said.

The attack on Israel’s Temple came about two weeks after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, killing its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and sparking a war that continues.

Hezbollah is an Iranian-backed militant group based in Lebanon that has carried out attacks against Israel. The United States has designated Hezbollah a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

The Israeli army launched airstrikes against Hezbollah after the start of the war in Gaza and recently invaded part of southern Lebanon.

Ghazali had lost several family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon before carrying out his attack, according to a local Lebanese official and the mayor of Dearborn Heights, where Ghazali lived.

Ghazali had been searching for pro-Hezbollah materials online since January, but he began planning the attack in earnest on March 9, Runyan said Monday.

That day, he tried to buy a gun from two different people who wouldn’t sell him a gun, but later, at a gun store in Dearborn Heights, he bought an AR-style rifle, 10 magazines and about 300 rounds of .223 caliber ammunition, Runyan said.

Online, he ordered a magazine pouch and 40 collapsible water tanks that held 5.3 gallons each, and the next day he bought fireworks worth about $2,200, she said.

The water containers were delivered a day before the attack, Runyan said. Ghazali filled them with gasoline and bought two flashlights that he then used to start the fire, Runyan said.

No one else was killed in the attack, although a temple security guard was injured, officials said. A large fire broke out after the attack and several first responders were treated for smoke inhalation.

On March 11, the day before the attack, Ghazali posted photos to a Facebook photo album he titled “revenge,” which included images of the dead Ayatollah and Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, Runyan said.

A phrase in Arabic saying “burn their world, because we have a vendetta against them, which we will never forget,” was also posted online, along with images of Hezbollah, the FBI official said. Ghazali also posted photos of her deceased brothers, niece and nephew, she said.

Ghazali posted other themes of revenge the morning of the attack, and while parked in the Temple Israel parking lot, he sent his sister 19 videos, photos and messages starting at 10:34 a.m. that Runyon said “reiterated his intention to commit a mass terrorist attack.”

Ghazali had also called his ex-wife in Dearborn Heights, and she was concerned enough to ask police to do a welfare check, Runyon said.

At 12:19 p.m., Ghazali rammed his pickup truck into Temple Israel, located about 20 miles north of Dearborn Heights.

His truck drove about 200 feet down a corridor of the building and Ghazali exchanged gunfire with Temple Israel security before he was seen lighting the fireworks.

About 35 gallons of gasoline were used in an attempt to stoke the fire, Runyan said. No other explosive devices were used, she said.

Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue, is the largest Jewish temple in Michigan. It has about 3,500 families, or more than 12,000 people, as members, according to its website.