Terror attacks at Michigan synagogue and Virginia university rattle sense of safety in American communities

People embrace as law enforcement escort families away from the Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. (Paul Sancya/AP via CNN Newsource)

A pair of attacks more than 700 miles apart on Thursday struck at the heart of community safe havens, leaving shocked Americans with an uneasy sense of security.

First, a deadly shooting being investigated as terrorism devastated a Virginia university in a military town. Later that day, a targeted vehicle-ramming attack on a Michigan synagogue left congregants shaken to their core.

The shooting at Virginia’s Old Dominion University late Thursday morning was committed by a veteran and convicted ISIS supporter. He killed one person and injured two others before a classroom of ROTC students subdued and killed him, the FBI said.

Less than two hours later, an explosives-laden vehicle plowed into the Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, setting part of it ablaze while dozens of children were inside.

“Yesterday’s (synagogue) attack was antisemitism,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Friday. “It was hate, plain and simple.”

The Michigan attacker was a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen who reportedly lost family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, officials said. He was the only person who died in Thursday’s synagogue attack.

While no children were injured, a security guard was struck by the vehicle but is expected to recover. And more than 50 first responders were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.

There are no indications the Michigan synagogue and the Old Dominion University attacks were connected, according to the FBI.

The attacks are among four acts of violence that have rattled Americans’ collective consciousness in recent weeks. The two attacks on Thursday came just days after two terror suspects were accused of tossing makeshift bombs at a protest outside the New York City mayor’s home Saturday in what authorities have described as an ISIS-inspired attack.

Less than two weeks earlier in Austin, Texas, a shooter killed three people and injured more than a dozen others in the city’s bustling entertainment district. Underneath a hoodie, the shooter was wearing a T-shirt featuring an Iranian flag design, an official said. Though the motive is still under investigation, authorities are investigating whether the shooter was inspired in part by U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that weekend, law enforcement officials briefed on the case said.

The country is in a “heightened threat environment” since the onset of the war with Iran, a “state sponsor of terrorism,” said Jeh Johnson, Homeland Security secretary under U.S. President Obama. He urged people to remain “vigilant.”

Here are the latest developments in the two Thursday attacks:

Michigan synagogue ramming

• Assailant identified: Officials identified the attacker as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a resident of Michigan’s Dearborn Heights who was born in Lebanon and became a U.S. citizen in 2016. Officials said he was armed with a rifle when he crashed into the synagogue with an explosives-laden vehicle.
• Attacker shot himself: Ghazali died after a self-inflicted gunshot wound while inside the vehicle after ramming it into the synagogue, said Jennifer Runyan, FBI Special Agent in Charge with Detroit field office. Ghazali had fired his weapon through the windshield of his vehicle, at which point two security officers fired at him, Runyan said.
• Ghazali in federal database: The attacker shows up in federal government databases as having connections to “known or suspected terrorists” associated with Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to law enforcement officials briefed on the matter.
• Gasoline in truck: Law enforcement found large quantities of “commercial grade fireworks” and several jugs of flammable liquid believed to be gasoline inside the truck Ghazali rammed into the synagogue, Runyan said.

Virginia university shooting

• Shooter identified as convicted ISIS supporter: The gunman was identified by the FBI as 36-year-old Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Sierra Leone and former Virginia National Guard member. Jalloh had pleaded guilty to attempting to aid ISIS in 2016. He was taking online classes at the university after his release from prison in 2024, court records show.
• Students take down attacker: Jalloh opened fire inside a classroom of ROTC students who did not hesitate to confront their attacker. The students subdued and killed the shooter, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Dominique Evans. One of the students stabbed Jalloh, according to multiple law enforcement sources briefed on the case. The attacker’s ultimate cause of death is unclear.
• Revered military instructor killed: Devoted ROTC instructor Lt. Col. Brandon Shah was killed in the attack, the university said. Tributes have poured in for Shah, who was a father, husband and graduate of Old Dominion’s ROTC program who had returned to his alma mater to mentor young cadets. One of his mentees, Justin Burns, said Shah “instilled great leadership qualities in all of us, which can be seen through the heroic acts of the cadets on that tragic day.” A military science professor who taught Shah at Old Dominion in the early 2000s recalled his “burning desire to fly helicopters” — a dream that was realized when Shah flew an AH64 Apache over Iraq, Afghanistan and Eastern Europe during his military service.

Ramped-up synagogue security may have thwarted tragedy, officials say

Ghazali drove his pickup truck into the parking lot of Temple Israel around 10 a.m. and stayed there until about 12:15 p.m., when he rammed the doors of the building, hitting a security guard on his way in, according to Runyan.

The truck got jammed between hallway walls, and Ghazali began firing through the windshield, prompting a security officer to exchange gunfire with him through the rear window of the truck, Runyan said. Ghazali couldn’t get out of the truck because of how it was jammed in the building, she said.

A second security officer then exchanged shots with Ghazali from the front of the vehicle, and shortly after, the truck’s engine compartment caught fire, Runyan said. At “some point during the gun fight,” Ghazali shot himself, she added.

Ghazali’s body was badly burnt, two sources familiar with the case said.

At the time of the attack, Temple Israel was a school with more than 100 children aged 5 and younger, the governor said Friday. No children were inside the part of the building that was rammed, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

As the sounds of gunfire and the stench of smoke filled the air, teachers at Temple Isr ael — which includes an early child care center and school — hunkered down with the children inside.

Outside, parents waited in agony trying to learn what happened, one father told CNN affiliate WXYZ.

“It’s strange how almost calm you are because you can’t afford to panic,” said Boris Krasnow, whose 1-year-old son was at the temple’s day care. The wait felt “surreal” as he constantly refreshed his phone, “trying to find out what’s going on,” he said.

Temple Israel boosted security a few weeks ago after West Bloomfield Township police warned area synagogues about the potential for violence.

While the motive has not been confirmed, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Thursday there is a clear “nexus” between the Iran war and the attack. She said it’s no coincidence the attacker targeted a synagogue named Temple Israel.

Law enforcement and security officers bravely thwarted Thursday’s attack, which “could have been much, much worse,” said U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan.

Slotkin, who said she spent much of her childhood at Temple Israel, also praised neighbors for taking in those rushing to find safety.

“It’s been incredible to watch neighbors in the community here – both organizations and just regular old citizens – open up their homes literally yesterday to help care for people who are fleeing from this,” Slotkin said Friday.

The FBI called the attack a “targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.” And investigators are looking into whether it was spurred by recent Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon, law enforcement officials told CNN.

Ghazali’s two brothers and two of their children were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon a week before the attack, the mayor of the Lebanese village where they lived told CNN.

Ghazali is not listed as a member of Hezbollah in U.S. government databases himself, but individuals who were known or suspected Hezbollah members were found in his contacts, law enforcement officials told CNN. It is not clear who those contacts were, or what Ghazali’s relationship to them was.

The attacker purchased $2,250 worth of fireworks from the Phantom Fireworks store in Livonia on Tuesday, according to William Weimer, the company’s president and general counsel. Ghazali was described as “jovial” by a manager who helped him with the sale.

He has no previous criminal history, no registered weapons and has never been the subject of an FBI investigation, Runyan said Friday.

Thursday’s violence is the latest in a series of incidents at a Jewish facility or event, as the number of antisemitic incidents in the US has been on the rise for the past four years, Anti-Defamation League data shows.

Across North America, Jewish institutions spend about $765 million a year on security, according to the Jewish Federations of North America. After Thursday’s attack, law enforcement across the country is ramping up efforts to protect religious institutions.

The attack won’t stop Temple Israel congregants from worshipping. Shabbat service will take place Friday evening at Shenandoah Country Club, across the street from the synagogue, a spokesperson for the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit said. The service will be open only to congregants and will also be streamed on Temple Israel’s website.

Virginia shooter made sure students were in ROTC, court documents

Old Dominion University student Zachary Mulder recalls the sinking feeling he had when he heard people screaming “shooter” and “gun” as they ran from the academic building where he had just been sitting in class.

“My heart dropped,” Mulder told CNN affiliate WTKR. “It was pretty scary at that point, because I didn’t know really what was going on or how close the threat was.”

The threat was inside a classroom of ROTC students in Constant Hall, where Jalloh had shouted “Allahu Akbar” — or “God is greater” — before firing at students, the FBI said.

Jalloh also appeared to make sure the people in the room belonged to ROTC before taking aim with a pistol, asking them twice to confirm that they were there for an ROTC event, according to a court document.

Jalloh was carrying a gun with an obliterated serial number, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation. A person accused of selling the pistol has been charged with making false statements while purchasing a firearm and dealing firearms without a license.

“Brave ROTC members in that room subdued him, and if not for them, I’m not sure what else he may have done,” Evans, the FBI agent, said Thursday.

Before being overcome and killed by the students, Jalloh killed ROTC instructor Shah and injured two students, officials said.

One of the injured has been released from the hospital and the other was upgraded from critical to fair condition as of Friday, a hospital spokesperson said.

Shah led the university’s Army ROTC Monarch Battalion, and as professor of military science and department chair, he took immense pride in students transforming “from being a student into being a soldier-leader,” a tribute to the lieutenant colonel from the university says.

Shah had more than 600 hours of combat flight missions, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the school.

He had been nearing retirement, his friend Carlos Ortiz told WTKR. “He was so close to the finish line. … This was his last assignment,” Ortiz said. “You’re not supposed to go to war and then come home, where you’re safe, and die like that.”

Investigators believe Jalloh was inspired by a 2009 shooting rampage at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, during which an Army psychiatrist killed 13 people and injured 32 others, Evans said. The shooter appears to have been ruminating on the event since at least 2016, according to prosecutors at the time.

He enlisted as a combat engineer with the Virginia National Guard from 2009 to 2015, an Army official confirmed. Shortly after he left the military, he was arrested for trying to provide support to ISIS.

In 2016, Jalloh tried to procure weapons to be used in what he believed would be an attack committed in the name of ISIS and also tried to donate money to the group, according to the Department of Justice.

Unbeknownst to Jalloh, he had been speaking to an FBI source who was monitoring his behavior. When discussing the timeline for a possible attack on US soil, Jalloh “expressed that it was better to plan an operation for Ramadan,” according to an affidavit from an FBI agent.

Thursday’s attack took place during Ramadan, a Muslim holy month that is observed as a time of fasting and spiritual renewal.

Jalloh pleaded guilty in 2017 to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2017.

Jalloh was released from federal custody in December 2024. He was granted an early release after completing a substance abuse treatment program, according to the Bureau of Prisons. During the Trump administration, the BOP said it has been reviewing the release policy and is no longer allowing inmates with terrorism-related charges to qualify for early release under the program.

Jalloh was also a current student at Old Dominion, having reenrolled in summer 2025, according to university spokesperson Jonah Grinkewitz. He was originally admitted to the university as a freshman in fall 2007 and was enrolled, “intermittently,” through the spring of 2013, before reenrolling last year, Grinkewitz told CNN.

Students and staff at Old Dominion were just days away from taking a weeklong school break starting Monday. After the shooting, the university canceled classes and all previously scheduled events at all campus locations through Sunday.

“Our campus and our community have been truly shaken and forever impacted by this senseless act of violence, and we want to extend our thoughts and prayers to the families and the victims and those that were impacted by this act today,” Hemphill, the university president, said during Thursday’s news conference.

The FBI is still in preliminary stages of its investigation and is asking for the public’s help. Anyone with information about Jalloh or the attack is encouraged to submit a tip.

Emma Tucker, Elizabeth Wolfe, Hannah Rabinowitz, Holmes Lybrand, CNN