If you go north from Detroit on US 24, passing through the majority-Arab city of Dearborn as quickly as you can, you will come after a few minutes to a nicer place, just off to the west, called West Bloomfield Township. Being a cleaner, more prosperous exurb, it has a population of Jews large enough to support a nice temple called Temple Israel -- the largest Reform temple in America.
There, yesterday, while more than 100 children were going to school, someone drove a pickup truck "purposefully" into the synagogue, where he exchanged gunfire with security guards, and was shot dead.
30 police officers were taken to hospital for smoke inhalation as the synagogue became engulfed in flames from the truck. One security guard is being treated at hospital for injuries and is expected to recover. The school's 140 students, staff, and teachers have all been accounted for and are safe.
Jennifer Runyan, the DEI special agent in charge at the FBI's Detroit Field Office, told the meeja "We are leading the investigation right now as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community." Strangely, though, Ms Runyan would say nothing about the dead suspect's identity, ethnicity or religion other than "There is one subject involved in this incident, who is now deceased."
Why not tell us more? Because, she said, she had to "protect the integrity of this investigation." And to prevent the spread of Islamophobia, of course, although she didn't say that.
However, our suspicions were confirmed within hours when the Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect, as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, who was born in Lebanon. The late Mr Ghazali entered the United States on 10 May 2011. [How? Ed.] The DHS said he then married an American, obtained an immigrant visa and became an American citizen in 2016. That's all ye know and all ye need to know.
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