The security guard who was injured when an armed antisemitic terrorist tried to murder toddlers at a Michigan synagogue has been identified as a longtime police officer.
Danny Phillips was standing guard as the Temple of Israel’s director of security when the terrorist plowed through the front doors and opened fire on Thursday, according to the Detroit News.
Phillips was hospitalized following the attack.
Security guard Danny Phillips, who was injured during the Temple Israel attack, previously spent 28 years working for the Bloomfield Hills Police Department. Temple Israel
“We are also sending our love and our prayers and our strength” to Phillips, Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny said during Friday’s Shabbat observance.
“Danny is an amazing man.”
Phillips previously spent 28 years working for the Bloomfield Hills Police Department, serving as the department’s advanced firearm instructor and rising to the rank of lieutenant before joining Temple Israel in June 2025.
His appointment was made “in response to the evolving realities facing Jewish communities,” according to Temple Israel, and was part of a months-long process to beef up the synagogue’s overall security.
He was hired to oversee a sophisticated operation that included a combination of an in-house security team with metal detectors, guards for hire, police and even overhead drones during events like High Holiday services, according to Forward.
AP
“Our security presence is an expression of responsibility, resilience, and our dedication to ensuring that every person who enters Temple Israel feels safe, supported, and seen,” according to a Facebook post announcing his appointment.
The temple’s staff and clergy had even participated in active shooter prevention and preparedness training led by an FBI official in January.
That beefed-up security is likely what saved hundreds of children who were inside Temple Israel’s preschool when Ayman Mohamad Ghazali smashed through the doors.
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Phillips was the only one hit by the car and was knocked unconscious.
One of his armed, private security guards shot back after Ghazli opened fire through his windshield in a hallway of the building.
Ghazli ultimately turned the gun on himself.
“If they had not done their job almost perfectly, we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone,” Sen. Elissa Slotkin said of the building’s security.
Ghazli, a restaurant worker who lived in Dearborn Heights, carried out the twisted attack after at least four family members, including a sibling, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon days earlier.
He reportedly called his ex-wife shortly before the rampage and told her to take care of their children.