A person apparently rammed a car into a Michigan synagogue Thursday, starting a fire, and was found dead after security engaged him with gunfire, officials said.
A security guard was injured in the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and the alleged perpetrator was found dead inside the car, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. Children and staff inside the temple were not hurt, he said.
Police issued a shelter-in-place order for all buildings within a mile of the synagogue as they investigated whether other people may have been involved. Schools and places of worship in the area went into lockdown.
Details about the attack were sparse Thursday, and a motive was unclear. Officials said there did not appear to be an active threat to the community.
The injured security officer was knocked unconscious by the car and brought to a hospital, Bouchard said. Officials hailed the work of security guards at the synagogue who they said prevented additional harm.
“Everything that was supposed to happen happened,” Bouchard said in a news conference. “Security did their job, and then the responders did theirs.”
Authorities did not identify the suspect or disclose whether they had a weapon or how the fire began. Officials also did not say how the perpetrator died.
Children were inside the temple, which offers early-childhood education, at the time of the attack. They were evacuated from the synagogue and reunited with their families at a nearby Jewish community center, Bouchard said.
Federal agencies, including the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, responded to the synagogue to help in the investigation.
Outside the synagogue Thursday, Bouchard said authorities were trying to access video of the incident. He said the suspect drove into a hallway after ramming into the building. Officers who responded to the synagogue went inside wearing gas masks, Bouchard said.
Temple Israel is home to over 12,000 members and says on its website that it’s the nation’s largest Reform synagogue. It was founded in 1941 and operated in the Detroit area for decades before building its West Bloomfield synagogue in 1980.
The country has seen a spate of high-profile attacks against Jewish communities and their places of worship over the last two years, including an arson attack during Passover at the home of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who is Jewish; an incident in which molotov cocktails were thrown at a crowd gathered in Colorado to support Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip; and the fatal shooting of a young couple at the Capital Jewish Museum in D.C.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) on Thursday said she grew up near the synagogue and called the attack a “frightening event.”
“All communities deserve the right to worship safely,” she wrote on X. “All communities.”
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