One person is dead after driving a truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield and continuing down a hallway for some distance, at approximately 12:30 p.m.
A synagogue security guard was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious, officials said. He was transported to an area hospital and is expected to survive.
No other injuries were reported, though Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said approximately 100 people were in the building at the time, including several children.
The vehicle caught on fire soon after the crash, officials said.
A massive police response followed the report of an active shooter at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township on early Thursday afternoon, where about 100 people were inside, including several children.
“The suspect is deceased in the vehicle,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. “It’s been complicated because there is some fire, to say the least, with that vehicle.”
“No kids, and this is the important thing, no kids and no staff was injured whatsoever,” Bouchard said. “We have no victims other than one of the lead security people was hit the by the car and was taken to the hospital.”
The incident was initially reported as an active shooter situation, resulting in area schools being locked down and residents advised to shelter in place. Officials said an alleged exchange of gunfire ensued between the driver and synagogue security guards. It’s not yet been determined if the driver was shot to death, died from injuries sustained in the crash, or died by suicide, officials said.
Police are now moving into the investigative side of the operation, looking into if anyone assisted the suspect. They do not believe anyone else was there, a concern that had prompted keeping lockdowns in place. And the school, along with other schools in the area that delays release, are in the process of reunification.
Television video coverage showed a massive police presence at the school, including armored vehicles and SWAT responders. The temple had significant amounts of smoke coming from the rooftop and some windows.
People gather near Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Corey Williams)
Oakland County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Stephen Huber told The Oakland Press that sheriff’s deputies are assisting West Bloomfield police who are “busier than heck.” The FBI, ATF and every nearby police agency sent units to respond, leading to the massive response.
Area schools went into a lockdown, including Marine West Bloomfield High School, Doherty Elementary and West Bloomfield Middle School.
According to MLive, police responded to the scene after receiving multiple reports that a vehicle crashed into the building and shots were fired after the collision. Bouchard said the suspect down a hall before being engaged.
“Security did engage the suspect with gunfire,” Bouchard said. “There were multiple security officers on scene. And the one that was hurt was pulled from that area by his team.’
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard at the scene Thursday, along side West Bloomfield Police Chief Dale Young. (Peg McNichol / MediaNews Group)
“He breached the building and drove down the hall, and he was engaged by security. He drove in through doors in that vehicle.”
Asked about the fire in the car, the sheriff said: “Something ignited in the vehicle.”
Next for law enforcement is to check for explosives with the investigators and bomb-sniffing dogs on the scene. Resources have been deployed across the county as a precaution, the sheriff said, though they had no information of other sites being targeted.
“No one was hurt and we’re on top of it,” Bouchard said. “Everything that was supposed to happen happened. Security did their job. The responders did their’s.”
The sheriff said the investigators will work to determine the motive of this attack, declining to speculate at this early stage.
This is the latest, and in this case potential, mass casualty attack in Michigan in the past five years,
It was in Oakland County’s northeast community that four Oxford High School students were slain in November of 2021 in a school shooting that highlighted a 14-year-old with access to a new gun and accusations that his parents ignored mental health concerns. In that case, the shooter pleaded guilty and his parents were eventually convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the nation’s first such case.
It was in February of 2023 that a 43-year-old man shot eight people on the campus of Michigan State University, killing three and injuring five others. One of the victims was from Oakland County’s Berkley community. The shooter eventually killed himself when police tracked him down and confronted him.
Part of the massive local, county and federal police response to the scene of a reported active shooter at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Thursday. (Peg McNichol / MediaNews Group)
It was in June of 2024, the day before Father’s Day, that a 42-year-old Macomb County man opened fire at the Brookland Plaze splash pad in Rochester Hills, injuring two children and seven adults. That shooter killed himself inside the Shelby Township home he shared with his mother during a standoff with police. His mother was out of town at the time.
And in September of 2025, involving another church, a 40-year-old man drove his pickup truck through the doors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, opening fire with an assault rifle and setting fire to the church. Four were killed and eight injured in the shooting and fire, which destroyed the church. The shooter was killed by police in a shootout a short while after the attack.
“At the moment, we’re just telling people to shelter in place for at least a mile away from area so that we can tell that there was nobody else on foot,” Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said via an NBC interview early into the response. ‘Reunification will be at the JCC, the Jewish Community Center, where parents can go to pick up their kids. It’ll be secured by law enforcement. So no fear there.”
He asked people to not come to the area.
This emergency alert was sent out over cable channels at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday. (Stephen Frye / MediaNews Group)
“It’s a work in progress,” Bouchard said as emergency responders searched the building and area, noting it’s a large facility with a large parcel of property. “It’s active and busy and we’re still trying to figure it out. Everybody has been moved out of the school.”
Bouchard did say a vehicle was involved and temple security “engaged the threat.”
FBI Director Kash Patel said agents are on scene of an “apparent vehicle ramming and active shooter situation” at the synagogue.
The Oakland County Sheriff’s office said authorities are clearing the building. About a dozen parents sprinted to get their children from an early childhood learning center inside the building after getting approval from police. West Bloomfield School District went on lockdown.
Temple Israel calls itself the nation’s largest Reform synagogue, with 12,000 members. according to its website. It has an early childhood education center and offers educational programs for families and adults.
The website says the synagogue is “passionate about helping Jewish communities across the globe” and that its mission is to “create a community building through the lens of Reform Judaism.”
Authorities also confirmed officers were being sent to other nearby places of worship out of an abundance of caution.
The synagogue is located at 5725 Walnut Lake Road.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit has issued a community notification, advising “all Jewish organizations to go into lockout protocol” — to not allow anyone to enter or exit their buildings.