A man armed with a rifle who rammed his vehicle into a major synagogue in Michigan has been shot dead by security.
No deaths or injuries were reported other than one security officer who was hit by the vehicle but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.
The vehicle caught fire after being driven into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Blomfield Township. Smoke could be seen billowing from the synagogue's roof. Footage from the scene showed dozens of police vehicles surrounding the building.
West Bloomfield Police Chief Dale Young said Temple security officers “engaged the individual and neutralised the threat.” The suspect was found dead inside his vehicle, according to Bouchard.
US media reported the assailant had recently lost family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, as part of the ongoing Middle East war.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security identified the assailant as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, who was born in Lebanon, came to Detroit in 2011 on a visa granted to spouses of US citizens, and became a US citizen himself in 2016.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit advised all Jewish organisations in the area “to go into lockout protocol — nobody in or out of your building,” before later lifting its advisory.
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.
Temple Israel has 12,000 members, according to its website. It offers educational programmes for families and adults.
Synagogues have been on edge and ramping up security around the world since the US and Israel started a war with Iran with missile strikes on 28 February.
In a similar incident last October, a man drove a car into people outside an Orthodox synagogue in the city of Manchester in the UK on Yom Kippur, killing two and injuring three before he was shot and killed by officers.
