By Rebecca Cook and Steve Gorman
WEST BLOOMFIELD, Michigan, March 12 (Reuters) – A suspect crashed his truck into the hallway of a Detroit-area synagogue where children were attending preschool on Thursday and was shot dead in a confrontation with security personnel, with no one else seriously injured, authorities said.
The attack unfolded during a recent surge in U.S. antisemitic incidents and in a period of heightened security concerns around Jewish and Muslim places of worship since U.S. and Israeli forces launched airstrikes on Iran on February 28, sparking an intensifying war across the Middle East.
Separately, the FBI opened a terrorism investigation into an earlier Thursday shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, that killed one person and injured two U.S. Army personnel, officials said. The shooter in that incident also was killed.
Michigan State Police reported an “active shooting” incident at Temple Israel, one of the largest synagogues in the U.S., at about 12:30 p.m. local time (1730 GMT). It was unclear from early news briefings by law enforcement whether the suspect was armed with a gun, and if so whether he used it in his attack.
CBS News reported the suspect had a rifle, citing two sources, which Reuters could not immediately verify.
“We can’t say what killed him at this point, but security did engage the suspect with gunfire,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters. A law enforcement official told Reuters the perpetrator was shot dead. Whether he took his own life or was killed by security was not immediately confirmed.
Bouchard said the suspect, who was not immediately identified, crashed his truck through the doors of the West Bloomfield synagogue and drove the vehicle down a hallway before a security officer fired at him. Another security officer was struck by the vehicle and briefly knocked unconscious.
“We have no victims other than one of the lead security people who was hit by the car and was taken to the hospital for treatment. That individual should be OK,” the sheriff said.
All 140 students at Temple Israel’s early childhood center are safe, the synagogue said in a statement.
SPIKE IN ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS
Antisemitic incidents have spiked in recent years in the U.S., with anti-Jewish incidents accounting for nearly two-thirds of 5,300-plus religiously motivated hate crimes since February 2024, according to FBI data.
“Antisemitism has no place in Michigan and cannot be tolerated,” Michigan’s attorney general Dana Nessel said in a statement. “In moments like these, it’s more important than ever that we come together, stand with our neighbors, confront hate whenever it appears, and build stronger communities.”
Jewish and Islamic organizations throughout the United States have been operating under heightened security measures since the latest outbreak of war in the Mideast.
“We’ve been talking for two weeks about the potential, sadly, of this happening. So there was no lack of preparation,” Bouchard said on CNN. “All Jewish facilities in the area are going to have a lot of extra presence around it until we figure this out.”
The United States as a whole has been on edge over the possibility of retaliation by Iran or its proxies, with security scares in recent days at airports in Kansas City and the Washington suburbs, and the arrest of two men accused of igniting homemade bombs at a chaotic anti-Islam protest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City.
CNN, citing multiple law enforcement sources, said a large cache of explosives was found in the back of the suspect’s car. Bouchard said investigators were still searching the vehicle as well as the building for any explosives or incendiary materials.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had been briefed on the attack, calling it terrible. “I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in the Detroit area following the attack on the Jewish synagogue earlier today,” he said.
FBI TO INVESTIGATE
A fire of unspecified origins ignited during the violence and filled much of the building with smoke, officials said. Aerial news footage earlier showed plumes of smoke rising from the roof of the building, as swarms of police and fire vehicles converged on the scene.
The sheriff said the FBI would likely assume primary responsibility for investigating the incident.
Temple Israel’s congregation consists of more than 12,000 members. Its daycare center serves children as young as six weeks old, according to its website.
Local news media reported that children from the daycare center, some of whom had escaped to nearby homes, were ushered away from the synagogue and taken on buses to a nearby location to be reunited with their parents.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit posted a message on its Facebook page saying its affiliated agencies were in “precautionary lockdown” in response to the Temple Israel incident.
(Reporting by Rebecca Cook in West Bloomfield; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jasper Ward and Andrew Gouldward in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Chris Reese, David Gaffen and Lisa Shumaker)
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