DETROIT - An unidentified assailant was killed after ramming his pickup truck into a synagogue on the outskirts of Detroit, Michigan, causing a blaze and triggering a huge police response.
Security guards opened fire on the attacker after he smashed through the doors of the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard told reporters.
At a news conference Thursday evening, Bouchard said no synagogue staff or children were hurt in the attack, but 30 law enforcement officers were "taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation" after the evacuation efforts.
The FBI will investigate the incident "as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community," Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the federal agency's Detroit field office, told reporters Thursday.
Law enforcement has not yet publicly detailed a motive for the attack, but it comes amid heightened security across the United States following the launch nearly two weeks ago of the US-Israeli war on Iran, which has since broadened to the Middle East.
US media reported Thursday that the attacker was believed to be of Lebanese descent.
President Donald Trump called the attack "terrible" and said it was "absolutely incredible that things like that happen."
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," the sheriff said.
He added that the assailant appeared to be alone in the vehicle and that 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."
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer condemned what she called a "heartbreaking" attack.
"Michigan's Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace," she said. "Antisemitism and violence have no place in Michigan."