Michigan attacker named as naturalized US citizen born in Lebanon who reportedly lost relatives in Israeli strike

Law enforcement is seen at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 12, 2026, after an armed terrorist drove a vehicle into the building. (Jef Kowalsky/AFP)
Law enforcement is seen at the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Michigan, on March 12, 2026, after an armed terrorist drove a vehicle into the building. (Jef Kowalsky/AFP)

The armed man who rammed his vehicle into one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States has been identified as 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized citizen born in Lebanon, according to federal officials.

Ghazali came to the US in 2011 on an IR1 immigrant visa as the spouse of a US citizen and was granted US citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Local media reports say Ghazali lived in Dearborn Heights and that several of his Lebanese relatives were killed in a recent Israeli strike amid the fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

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