Michigan synagogue attack was 'hate, plain and simple', says governor

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer said an incident where a vehicle was rammed into the Temple Israel synagogue near Detroit on Thursday was antisemitism and "hate, plain and simple".

The FBI is investigating the incident as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community" but a motive for the crime remains unclear.

No staff or children at the synagogue and its attached school were hurt. A security guard was being treated for injuries and was expected to recover, law enforcement said.

The suspect, identified as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, drove "with purpose down the hall of the building" before he was "neutralised" by security guards, police said. The vehicle then caught fire.

During remarks on Friday morning, the governor said antisemitism had been rising in the US.

"We will fight this ancient and rampant evil. We will stand together as we do it," Whitmer said, adding "we must lower the rhetoric in this state and in this country."

The Jewish community, particularly in the West Bloomfield suburb of Detroit where Temple Israel is located, is now on edge, she said.

Michigan Senator Elisa Slotkin, who grew up in the area and said she spent a lot of time around the temple while growing up, echoed that sentiment at the press conference.

Slotkin, a Democrat, said that whether antisemitism is coming from the left or the right of the political spectrum, the public has a responsibility to call it out so that it does not escalate into violence.

"The Jewish community suffers ten times the number of hate crimes than any other community in this country," the senator said. "So it is an epidemic."

Until the country pushes back on antisemitism, "we're going to see incidents like this continue to proliferate", she added.

Kids aged from zero to five years old were targeted in the attack, Whitmer said, noting that Temple Israel - one of the largest reform Jewish synagogues in the US - evacuated more than 100 young children from its preschool.

In addition to the injured security guard, 30 law enforcement officers were being treated for smoke inhalation, according to Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

The US Department of Homeland Security identified the suspect as Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalised US citizen who was born in Lebanon and came to the US in 2011.

Police did not say how the suspect had died. Bouchard said it was difficult to determine the suspect's cause of death because the vehicle caught fire.