March 31 (UPI) -- The man accused of attacking a Michigan synagogue earlier this month "was motivated and inspired by Hezbollah's militant ideology," federal authorities said.
"Based on the evidence gathered to date, we assess this attack to be a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan," Jennifer Runyan, the FBI special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, told reporters Monday.
The press conference was held nearly three weeks after Ayman Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, on March 12, drove his truck loaded with gasoline and fireworks through the front doors of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, a suburb of Detroit, and down a hallway before engaging in a firefight with security and dying from a suspected self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In a final update on the FBI investigation into the attack, Runyan said 19 videos, photos and messages he sent to his sister, who is in Lebanon, the morning of the attack reiterated "his intent to commit a mass terrorist attack as well as affirming his Hezbollah-inspired ideology."
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