FBI releases timeline in Michigan synagogue attack, says suspect sat in parking lot for 2 hours prior to driving through doors

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (WILX) - The FBI on Friday provided a timeline of events in Thursday’s attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.

Speaking at a press conference, Jennifer Runyan confirmed the identity of the suspect — who died in his truck — as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who lived in Dearborn Heights. Previous reports identified him as a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon.

Ghazali drove his gray Ford F-150 to the temple around 10 a.m. Thursday morning and remained inside the truck in the parking lot for a little more than two hours, according to Runyan.

At 12:15 p.m. he began driving around the parking lot. At 12:19 he drove the truck through door five, hitting a security guard on the way in, Runyan said.

At 12:20 after making his way down a hallway, Ghazali’s truck became jammed between hallway walls and he began firing out of the windshield, according to Runyan.

They engaged in a gunfight and Ghazali was unable to get out of the truck. At about 12:22, according to Runyan, a second officer engaged the suspect and the truck caught fire.

Ghazali was found dead inside the truck with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to Runyan.

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In the bed of the truck, authorities 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,” Runyan said.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard on Friday said the more than 100 children under the age of five who were at the school inside Temple Israel were in a different part of the building from where Ghazali’s truck entered and came to a rest.

Bouchard said 605 law enforcement officers from more than 40 agencies responded to the scene “at breakneck speed.” He updated the number of officers who were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation on Thursday to 63.

This is a developing story. Stay with News 10 for the latest updates as they become available on-air and online.

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