Suspect in Michigan's Temple Israel attack died from self-inflicted gunshot wound, FBI says

The suspect in the attack on Thursday at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, Michigan, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Friday.

The FBI confirmed the person's identity as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, from Dearborn Heights. The Department of Homeland Security told CBS News on Thursday that Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, entered the country legally in 2011 after receiving sponsorship from his then-wife, a U.S. citizen, and became a citizen himself in 2016. 

DHS says he entered the U.S. on an IR1 immigrant visa and applied for naturalization on Oct. 20, 2015.  

Jennifer Runyan, FBI Detroit's special agent in charge, told reporters that Ghazali did not have a previous criminal history and had never been the subject of an FBI investigation.  

Runyan says Ghazali entered the Temple Israel parking lot shortly before 10 a.m. on Thursday, March 12, and sat in the parking lot for more than two hours before ramming his car through a door at about 12:19 p.m., striking a security officer.

"Ghazali's vehicle gets jammed between hallway walls, and he begins firing through the windshield of his vehicle," Runyan said, adding that the suspect was unable to remove himself from the truck. 

Runyan says Ghazali engaged in a gunfight with a security officer through the rear window of his vehicle. Runyan says another security officer engaged in a gunfight with the suspect from the front of the vehicle. It is unclear how many rounds of shots were fired.

Runyan says that during the attack, the engine compartment caught on fire. 

"At some point, during the gunfire, Ghazali suffers from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head," Runyan said. "In the bed of the truck, we found large quantities of commercial-grade fireworks and several jugs of flammable liquid, we believe to be gasoline. Some of which has been consumed in the fire." 

Police had previously said Thursday that they believed he had been killed by security.

Authorities say all of the 140 students and staff were not harmed. Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says the children's daycare was in another part of the building from where Ghazali was located.

Bouchard said on Thursday that a lead security personnel member was taken to a local hospital for treatment after he was struck by the vehicle during the attack. In an update on Friday, Bouchard told reporters that 63 law enforcement officers sought medical attention for smoke inhalation.

Runyan said on Thursday that they are investigating it as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community."

Sources within the local Lebanese American community, including one person who's known Ghazali for more than a decade, told CBS News that the suspect's family members, including his brothers and two of their children, were killed after an airstrike in Lebanon during the ongoing war with Iran.

Surveillance video showed the suspect buying $2,250 worth of fireworks days before the attack. Officials with Phantom Fireworks in Livonia told CBS News that Ghazlazi first purchased $1,369.02 worth of items on Tuesday and then made a second purchase of $881.94 about 17 minutes later.

Runyan said they are investigating the motive for the attack. Runyan said there is no evidence that Thursday's attack is connected to the shooting at Old Dominion University.

Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun held a press conference on Friday, discussing the community impact and regional concerns. Baydoun also said, "our Jewish brothers and sisters deserve to worship without fear."