STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The NYPD announced that the department would be increasing police presence at Jewish religious and cultural institutions in the city as a precaution in the wake of a synagogue attack in Michigan Thursday night.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the department said it has been \u201ctracking\u201d the situation in West Bloomfield, Michigan. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe NYPD is tracking the situation in West Bloomfield, Michigan, and we are in touch with our law enforcement partners,\u201d the department wrote.<\/a> \u201cOut of an abundance of caution, and given the overall heightened threat environment, we\u2019re continuing to deploy high-visibility patrols to Jewish religious and cultural institutions in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Police advised New Yorkers to call 1-888-NYC-SAFE to report suspicious activities.<\/p>\n Michigan synagogue attacked<\/p>\n A man crashed a vehicle into a large Michigan synagogue<\/a> while armed with a rifle in what federal officials say was an attack targeting the Jewish community, according to the Associated Press.<\/a><\/p>\n Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, was killed by security after ramming his vehicle into Temple Israel<\/a> in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit, authorities said. He drove down a hallway before the vehicle caught fire, according to authorities.<\/p>\n Ghazali had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, AP reported.<\/p>\n The synagogue\u2019s staff, teachers and 140 children at its early childhood center were not injured, according to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard<\/a>.<\/p>\n