The FBI says Ayman Ghazali targeted Temple Israel driven by Hezbollah propaganda, with more than 100 children inside the building.
The FBI has formally classified the March 12 attack on a West Bloomfield, Michigan synagogue as a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism, one that was deliberately aimed at the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in the state.
The suspect, Ayman Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, drove a pickup truck into Temple Israel as more than 100 children were attending school inside the building. He had waited in the parking lot for more than two hours before accelerating the truck deep into the structure, striking a security officer before the vehicle became lodged in a hallway. Ghazali and security personnel exchanged gunfire before he shot and killed himself inside the truck. No one else died. The vehicle was loaded with explosives and what investigators believe was gasoline, and a fire that started in the engine compartment caused extensive structural damage to the building.
What the FBI found in Ghazali’s digital history
The investigation traced Ghazali’s radicalization back to at least January 2026. A review of his online activity revealed repeated searches for pro-Hezbollah and Iranian news sources, along with videos related to firearms and ammunition. The FBI said the planning for the attack began to intensify on March 9, three days before it was carried out.
That same day, he attempted to purchase weapons from two private individuals before acquiring an AR-style rifle along with 10 magazines and roughly 300 rounds of ammunition. He then researched local fireworks vendors, searched multiple Jewish organization websites across Michigan, and visited a shooting range the following afternoon, where he also purchased $2,200 worth of fireworks.
On March 10, he searched terms related to the largest concentrations of Jewish people in Michigan. On March 11, one day before the attack, he created a Facebook album he titled vengeance, which contained images of Iran’s former supreme leader as well as photos of a brother and other family members killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. That same morning, he posted additional photos of his deceased relatives alongside comments describing Israel as evil and pledging retribution.
In the final hours before driving to the synagogue, Ghazali sent his sister in Lebanon nearly a dozen videos. In one of them, recorded shortly before the attack, he described the building as the largest gathering of Israelis in Michigan and the United States, stated that he had prepared the truck with explosives, and said he intended to enter by force and kill as many people as he could. His sister did not see the messages until approximately one hour after the attack had already occurred.
The FBI’s findings and what they mean
FBI Detroit Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan said the investigation remains ongoing but found no evidence of co-conspirators. Ghazali acted alone.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jerome Gorgon said that had Ghazali survived, he would have faced charges of providing material support to Hezbollah. Gorgon stated that Ghazali was aware Hezbollah was a designated terrorist organization, that he provided the group material support, and that he acted under its direction and control. Investigators also found that Ghazali had been flagged in federal government databases prior to the attack as having connections to individuals associated with Hezbollah.
A week before the attack, Ghazali’s brother Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali was killed in an Israeli airstrike. The Israeli military identified Ibrahim as a Hezbollah commander responsible for managing weapons operations within the group’s Badr unit. Two other family members also died in the strike. The FBI noted, however, that Ghazali had been consuming Hezbollah propaganda well before his family was killed, suggesting the attack was not solely driven by personal grief but by a longer and more deliberate process of radicalization.
On March 9, he also began closely following live speeches and coverage involving Hezbollah’s secretary general, Naim Qassem, and reporting related to an Iranian fatwa calling for total jihad against U.S. military forces.
The attack and the investigation that followed have drawn national attention to the intersection of foreign terrorist ideology and domestic violence targeting religious communities. The case remains under active investigation.
Story credit: wxyz