Photo of Michigan synagogue attacker shows him with AR-style rifle prior to the attack

The man who drove a truck into a synagogue in Michigan and opened fire last Thursday sent a photo of himself with the AR-style rifle he had during the attack to a family member in Lebanon, according to a U.S. official who provided a copy of the picture.

In the photo, the Temple Israel synagogue attacker, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, is wearing all black with a black and white scarf and is holding what appears to be a semiautomatic rifle with a scope attached. The photo is edited with verses from the Quran in yellow Arabic text. 

A U.S. official told CBS News the photo was taken and edited prior to the attack on March 12, and sent to a relative the day Ghazali rammed his vehicle into the synagogue. The official said the rifle in the photo is the same weapon he had during the attack.

The verse on the upper part of the photo said in Arabic: "Among the believers are men who have been true to what they pledged to God. Some of them have fulfilled their vow, and some are still waiting. They have never changed."

There was also script on the lower part of the photo about "vengeance."

Ghazali had been living and working in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, and was a naturalized U.S. citizen. He came from a southern Lebanese town that is now a Hezbollah stronghold. Four of his relatives there were killed in an Israeli drone strike on March 5, including two brothers who CBS News first reported were members of Hezbollah's rocket squad, according to sources in Lebanon. 

Israeli officials on Sunday confirmed the death of one brother, Ibrahim Mohamad Ghazali, who they said was a Hezbollah commander.  

The attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, one of the largest synagogue congregations in the country, rocked the community. Young children were in school inside the building during the attack. No students or staff were injured in the incident, but a security guard was hit by Ghazali's vehicle and knocked unconscious, officials said. The vehicle ramming started a fire in the building and other first responders were treated for smoke inhalation.

The FBI said the attack is being investigated as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community." 

At a briefing the day after the attack, Jennifer Runyon, the FBI Detroit Field Office special agent in charge, said Ghazali's truck became jammed in a hallway and he was unable to exit the vehicle. She said Ghazali got in a gunfight with two security guards before turning the gun on himself, taking his own life. Runyon said he had waited in the parking lot for two hours before ramming his vehicle into the building.

Prior to the attack, Ghazali purchased more than $2,000 worth of fireworks from a local fireworks store. Phantom Fireworks CEO Bruce Zoldan told CBS News Ghazali was asked by a store worker why he was buying so much given that it was an unusual time of year for fireworks. 

"He said it was to celebrate the end of Ramadan," Zoldan told CBS News. 

The Department of Homeland Security told CBS News that Ghazali entered the country legally in 2011 after receiving sponsorship from his then-wife, a U.S. citizen, and became a citizen himself in 2016. 

Ghazali called his former wife just before the attack and she in turn called police to warn them that her ex-husband was "not stable."