Truck ramming at synagogue being investigated as targeted act of violence against Jewish community: FBI

A suspect is dead after a shooting and vehicle ramming attack at a Detroit-area synagogue, according to the FBI, which said it is investigating the incident as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

The suspect, who is believed to have had a rifle, died after a shootout with security at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

Nobody inside the synagogue was hurt, and the synagogue noted that all 140 students as well as staff, teachers and “heroic security personnel” were accounted for, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

“The security staff did an amazing job, an amazing job,” Bouchard said at a press briefing Thursday evening. “They stopped the threat.”

The sheriff said one synagogue security guard was hit by the suspect’s truck and was “knocked unconscious” but was expected to be OK.

The building became engulfed in fire during the attack, and 30 law enforcement officers were transported to the hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, according to Bouchard. The source of the ignition remains under investigation, he said.

The suspect has not yet been publicly identified.

The truck used in the attack is registered to a naturalized US citizen from Lebanon who posted on social media that his relatives were killed in the ongoing Israeli strikes, multiple law enforcement officials told ABC News.

Authorities were still working to determine whether the person found dead inside the vehicle was the same person in whose name the car was registered.

Investigators searched a Michigan home associated with the suspect, the sources said.

A motive for the attack remains under investigation, according to Bouchard and Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office.

There is only one suspect in the incident, according to Runyan.

“I also know you have a lot of questions. A lot of those questions can’t be answered at this point because it’s super preliminary in the investigation,” Bouchard said.

“Obviously, it’s a hateful, terrible thing, right? But what drove this person into action — that has to be determined by the investigation,” he added.

Temple Israel in a statement said the security personnel who confronted the suspect are “heroes” and the “teachers followed their training and kept the children safe and calm.”

The driver was armed with a rifle, and the truck contained fireworks and an unidentified chemical agent that ignited soon after the crash, the law enforcement sources said. 

The truck swerved around bollards, crashed through Temple Israel’s front doors and drove down the hall before security personnel opened fire.

Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny told ABC News Live that she was heading to Temple Israel when a staff member texted her saying they were hiding from gunshots under a desk.

Kaluzny said she drove directly to the synagogue and tried to go in the building but was not allowed inside, so she then drove to a reunification site where panicked parents were waiting for their children.

She said of the security guard who was hit by the truck, “This is someone who is not Jewish who is absolutely celebrating his relationship with the Jewish community, and we have embraced him and he has embraced us.”

“We are forever grateful to all of them and everyone who showed up to help us get through this,” she said of the synagogue security guards and the police responders.

Officials with the FBI Detroit field office held an active shooter prevention and preparedness training for the staff and clergy at Temple Israel in January, according to a social media post from the FBI. 

“All of the training that we do is, sadly, necessary, but we saw today … that it paid off,” Kaluzny said.

“Everyone knew what to do … the teachers are absolutely heroes,” she added.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement, “This is heartbreaking. Michigan’s Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace.”

President Donald Trump said he’s been “fully briefed” on the incident. 

“I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in Detroit, Detroit area, following the attack on the Jewish synagogue,” Trump said during a women’s history month event at the White House.

“It’s a terrible thing,” he said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that he spoke with local Jewish leaders in Michigan “to receive an update on the situation and to express our solidarity.” 

“I am relieved to hear that there were no casualties,” he said. “This is a grave and serious incident that follows a series of attacks on Jewish institutions around the world. Tonight, we send a message of strength and support from Israel to the Jewish community in Michigan.”

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Alexander Mallin and Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.