An unidentified attacker was killed Thursday after ramming a pickup truck into a synagogue outside Detroit, sparking a fire and prompting a large police response, authorities said.
WDIV-TV reports that a truck crashed into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township.
FBI Director Kash Patel said agents are on the scene of an “apparent vehicle ramming and active shooter situation” at the synagogue.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit advised all Jewish organizations in the area “to go into lockout protocol – nobody in or out of your building.”
Security guards opened fire on the attacker after he smashed through the doors of the synagogue in West Bloomfield, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters.
Bouchard said a motive for the attack had not yet been determined but it comes amid heightened security across the United States following the launch nearly two weeks ago of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
The synagogue attack came on the same day as a shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, which FBI Director Kash Patel said was being investigated as “an act of terrorism.”
Patel, in a post on X, said the university attack left one person dead and two others wounded. “The shooter is now deceased thanks to a group of brave students who stepped in and subdued him,” he said.
Bouchard said the Michigan assailant rammed the Temple Israel building with his vehicle and then drove down a hallway, where he was engaged by security guards.
“We can’t say what killed him at this point, but security did engage the suspect with gunfire,” he said.
The sheriff said the assailant appeared to be alone in the vehicle and police dogs were checking the car for explosives.
“It’s been complicated because there’s some fire,” he said. “We’re through an abundance of caution, clearing the vehicle for IEDs or any explosives.”
The sheriff said a security member was injured by the assailant’s pickup truck and was being treated in the hospital.
Smoke could be seen billowing from Temple Israel, one of the largest Reform Judaism congregations in the country, after the attack and fire engines were on the scene.
