By ED WHITE AND ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE Associated Press
The Michigan synagogue that came under attack this week when an armed man drove his car into the building had for months been strengthening its security apparatus by hiring a seasoned police lieutenant as its security director and holding active shooter training.
That beefed up security, which came in response to rising antisemitism and other attacks at places of worship, is being credited with saving lives in an event that ended with only the attacker dying.
An armed private security guard shot back at the attacker after he opened fire through his windshield in a hallway inside the building. When the car barreled in, there were 140 students inside in an early childhood learning center. All were unscathed.
The car’s engine caught fire, and the gunman, Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, eventually used his own weapon to fatally shoot himself, according to Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office.
“If they had not done their job almost perfectly we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone,” U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said of the building’s security.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer added: “These heroes threw themselves in harm’s way, engaging a suspect.”
One of Temple Israel’s rabbis said “it was only a miracle” that none of its members were hurt.
“Unfortunately the entire Jewish community, no matter where we are in the world, we have to plan for things like this,” Temple Israel Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny told CNN.
The effort to bolster security at Temple Israel, outside Detroit, came as many houses of worship have undergone similar efforts, with leaders working to fortify facilities in the wake of deadly attacks. Synagogues around the world have increased protections after the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran.
The synagogue last June hired a former police lieutenant, Danny Phillips, to lead its in-house armed security guards as the head of security, with the temple saying it was taking a proactive step “in response to the evolving realities facing Jewish communities.”
Phillips served in law enforcement for almost three decades, including more than 20 years as his department’s advanced firearm instructor, according to the website of a college where he teaches a police academy course on responding to active assailants.
And in January, Temple Israel’s staff and clergy participated in an active shooter prevention and preparedness training led by an FBI official, according to the synagogue’s social media accounts.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said on Thursday that he had contacted the head of security for the temple just two days before the attack. He credited the thorough preparation ahead of the attack as the reason that there weren’t casualties.
Ron Amann, a member of the safety team at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, is still recovering after being shot in the leg by a man who tried to attack the Christian church last June. The gunman was killed by another team member before he could enter a Sunday service.
Amann, who was armed, said he passed his grandson to his wife when he heard a woman yell, “There’s a man with a gun.”
“When you sign up for the safety team you have to be willing to stand up and fight, bluntly, rather than run the other direction,” said Amann, 64, who has a metal rod in his lower right leg.
“My alertness is just at a higher level than it ever was before,” he said. “The events at the synagogue just keep bringing it back to the forefront. I’m certainly saddened by all that.”
CrossPointe church is 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) from the synagogue. But Pastor Bobby Kelly said he and his staff sheltered in place Thursday when they heard about the attack. Police even drove around the church.
“When you hear of something happening,” Kelly said, “you don’t know where it’s going to happen next.”