The suspected assailant, armed with rifles and smoke bombs, who rammed into Temple Israel on Thursday encountered a synagogue that was well prepared for just such an attack.
He hit and injured the congregation’s security director with his car as he plowed through the synagogue’s doors and drove down a hallway. But he didn’t manage to harm anyone else. He was found dead after trained and armed security guards shot at him.
The synagogue rabbi and local and federal law enforcement say it was because the staff knew exactly how to respond to an active shooter threat.
“We always worry that you can plan and plan and plan and practice and practice, and it won’t matter, because it will be something else, but it feels like a miracle that everything worked the way it was supposed to, that our team was so incredibly brave, local law enforcement’s been amazing, and that everybody’s OK,” Rabbi Jen Lader of Temple Israel told JTA.
Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and West Bloomfield County Police Chief Dale Young also immediately praised the security response in the wake of the attack.
“I am deeply proud of the response, not only from the security that was on site, but also of all the police officers and the firefighters that are here right now, we train on active shooter events a lot,” Young said during a press conference outside the synagogue on Thursday. “I think that training certainly helped to mitigate what happened here today.”
Indeed, it was a situation that Jewish institutions across the US have trained for, as anti-Semitism and threats of violence have ticked up in recent years, especially following the 2018 synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh that killed 11 Jews during Shabbat services. The rabbi of a synagogue in Colleyville, Texas, credited a security training with enabling him to respond when a man took him and three congregations hostage in 2022.
“Everybody flees danger, and our team went straight toward it, and they were the ones who neutralized the terrorist and saved everybody,” said Lader. “And our teachers followed, you know, to the absolute letter, our active shooter training and lockdown procedures, and saved every kid.”
Beyond the synagogue’s full-time director of security, Lader said Temple Israel also has a full team of armed security guards on the premises at all times as well as a remote security system that is able to secure different areas of the building during threats.
In late January, FBI agents also visited Temple Israel to train clergy and staff in its Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness course.
Michael Masters, national director and CEO of the Secure Community Network, which coordinates security for Jewish institutions nationwide, said that the outcomes of the attack Thursday reflected the preparedness of Temple Israel.
“Investing in security is an investment, it’s a down payment on the Jewish future,” said Masters. “The community that made up the synagogue, the larger Detroit Jewish community, has been making that investment for years and years, and today, that investment paid off and lives [were] saved.”
Among the security measures that Masters said his organization recommended were “bollards or fences or natural obstructions” to the building, controlling access to the facility through reinforced doors or windows and having a security presence.
SCN operates a Colorado office through JEWISHcolorado. Shortly after the attack, Jco released a statement saying that Denver Police had assured SCN staff that police were aware of the increased threat to the Jewish community.
“Moments like this are an important reminder to review safety procedures at local facilities and ensure staff and volunteers are familiar with security protocols, including vehicle vulnerabilities and access controls at local facilities and special events,” the statement continued. It also included a reminder that SCN Colorado is available to provide security training and guidance to Jewish organizations across the state at no cost, including assistance reviewing vehicle access and other facility considerations.
Even as he praised the response by security and law enforcement, Noah Arbit, a lifelong congregant of Temple Israel who represents West Bloomfield in the Michigan House of Representatives, said he was “outraged and enraged and deeply pained” that so much security is required.
“Jewish communities across the country and world have watched for the past decade, as our institutions have congealed into fortresses,” he said. “We are now forced to live behind, basically, you know, militarized, institutionally securitized institutions, and what a shame that is. It’s not just a shame, It’s unfathomable, it’s unforgivable.”
Lader said that among her congregants, two competing sentiments had jumped out: Those who “never, in a million years, in our heart of hearts, thought it was ever going to happen to us” and others who “knew it was only a matter of time before it knocked on our door.”
But another feeling was even stronger, she said.
“I think the overarching sentiment, and the one that I want to make sure gets out there, is our absolute gratitude to our internal teams, our amazing staff, local law enforcement and our teachers for really, like, a building full of absolute heroes, who were able to keep us safe,” Lader said.
No one was killed at the synagogue, which has a preschool on its premises.
A man who drove a truck into the building was dead, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said at a press briefing outside the synagogue on Thursday afternoon. He said it was not immediately clear how the man had died but said that the synagogue’s security team had “engaged” by firing at the assailant.
One guard was hit by the truck and taken to the hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, Bouchard said. He said it was too early to offer details about the assailant.
Smoke was pouring from the building and a bomb squad was working to clear any threats from the vehicle, according to Bouchard, who said, “Something ignited in the vehicle.” He said the truck remained inside the synagogue.
Children who were present at Temple Israel’s preschool were unharmed and evacuated from the building. A lockdown across Jewish institutions in the area was lifted after several hours.
The synagogue in West Bloomfield is one of the largest Jewish congregations in the United States, with more than 3,000 families.
The incident comes as Jewish communities are on high alert because of the US-Israel war against Iran, which has a record of staging attacks on Jewish and Israeli targets around the world.
It also follows a ramming and shooting that killed four people at a church in Grand Blanc, Mich., in September.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said she was tracking reports of the incident. “This is heartbreaking,” she said in a statement. “Michigan’s Jewish community should be able to live and practice their faith in peace.”
