FBI: Armed man who rammed pickup into Michigan synagogue was inspired by Hezbollah

Ayman Ghazali declared he wanted to ‘kill as many of them as I possibly can’ in video he made before attacking Temple Israel while preschool was in session, Detroit FBI head says

The armed man who rammed a pickup truck packed with explosives into a Detroit-area synagogue with preschool children present on March 12 was carrying out a “Hezbollah-inspired” terror attack, the FBI said Monday.

Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township was one of over a dozen diaspora Jewish institutions targeted since the start of the war with Iran on February 28. Ayman Ghazali, who shot himself dead after ramming into the synagogue, had relatives in Lebanon who were killed by the IDF days earlier, including a brother who was a commander in the Iran-backed terror group, according to the IDF and US media.

In a video he made before the attack at Temple Israel, Ghazali, a 41-year-old Dearborn Heights resident, declared he wanted to “kill as many of them as I possibly can,” said Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI in Detroit, announcing new information on Monday.

“We assess this attack to be a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan,” said Runyan.

“We do not make this characterization lightly without a thorough review and keen evaluation of the facts. In this case, the evidence shows the attacker was motivated and inspired by Hezbollah’s militant ideology,” she said.

The attacker sought out Iranian and pro-Hezbollah content online, she added, and he “regularly consumed breaking news and statements and live coverage of the current secretary-general of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem.”

Detroit-area US Attorney Jerome Gorgon noted that Hezbollah in 1983 drove a massive truck bomb that killed 241 US service members at a Marine barracks in Beirut.

“That is exactly what this terrorist did a few weeks ago in our backyard,” Gorgon said, speaking along with Runyan.

Ghazali had searched for Michigan synagogues and Jewish cultural sites a few days before the attack before settling on Temple Israel, even looking up the time for lunch, said Runyan. There was no way to know whether Ghazali knew children would be present at the time, she added.

Ghazali sat in the parking lot of the synagogue for a few hours on March 12 before smashing his Ford F150 through the doors and into the hallway of an early childhood education area, striking a security guard. He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself.

First responders quickly cleared the building, and no one among the 150 children and staff was injured, officials said.

Ghazali’s vehicle was stocked with commercial-grade fireworks and containers with more than 30 gallons (113.5 liters) of gasoline. There was a fire in the truck’s engine, but no explosion.

Ghazali’s ex-wife had called police in Dearborn Heights around the time of the attack to warn that he seemed distraught and suicidal after losing several family members during the Israeli airstrike days earlier in his native Lebanon, according to 911 audio.

Ghazali had been viewing pro-Hezbollah material before his family was killed, Runyan said.

Ghazali sent a video to his sister about 10 minutes before the attack, Runyan said, in which he declared his intent to “kill as many of them as I possibly can.”

Runyan said that there was no indication of conspirators involved in the attack at this stage.

Runyan said Ghazali was not under federal investigation before the attack and was not on a US terror watch list.

The United States added Lebanon-based Hezbollah to its list of designated foreign terrorist organizations in 1997.