The Michigan synagogue that came under attack this week when an armed man drove his car into the building had for months been strengthening its security apparatus by hiring a seasoned police lieutenant as its security director and holding active shooter training.
That beefed up security, which came in response to rising antisemitism and other attacks at places of worship, is being credited with saving lives in an event that ended with only the attacker dying.
An armed private security guard shot back at the attacker after he opened fire through his windshield in a hallway inside the building. When the car barreled in, there were 140 students inside in an early childhood learning center. All were unscathed.
The car’s engine caught fire, and the gunman, Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, a Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, eventually used his own weapon to fatally shoot himself, according to Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field office.
“If they had not done their job almost perfectly we would be talking about an immense tragedy here today with children gone,” U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin said of the building's security.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer added: “These heroes threw themselves in harm’s way, engaging a suspect.”
One of Temple Israel's rabbis said “it was only a miracle” that none of its members were hurt.
“Unfortunately the entire Jewish community, no matter where we are in the world, we have to plan for things like this,” Temple Israel Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny told CNN.
The effort to bolster security at Temple Israel, outside Detroit, came as many houses of worship have undergone similar efforts, with leaders working to fortify facilities in the wake of deadly attacks. Synagogues around the world have increased protections after the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran.
The synagogue last June hired a former police lieutenant, Danny Phillips, to lead its in-house armed security guards as the head of security, with the temple saying it was taking a proactive step “in response to the evolving realities facing Jewish communities.”
Phillips served in law enforcement for almost three decades, including more than 20 years as his department's advanced firearm instructor, according to the website of a college where he teaches a police academy course on responding to active assailants.
And in January, Temple Israel's staff and clergy participated in an active shooter prevention and preparedness training led by an FBI official, according to the synagogue's social media accounts.
Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said on Thursday that he had contacted the head of security for the temple just two days before the attack. He credited the thorough preparation ahead of the attack as the reason that there weren’t casualties.
Ron Amann, a member of the safety team at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Michigan, is still recovering after being shot in the leg by a man who tried to attack the Christian church last June. The gunman was killed by another team member before he could enter a Sunday service.
Amann, who was armed, said he passed his grandson to his wife when he heard a woman yell, “There’s a man with a gun.”
“When you sign up for the safety team you have to be willing to stand up and fight, bluntly, rather than run the other direction,” said Amann, 64, who has a metal rod in his lower right leg.
“My alertness is just at a higher level than it ever was before,” he said. “The events at the synagogue just keep bringing it back to the forefront. I’m certainly saddened by all that.”
CrossPointe church is 30 miles (48.2 kilometers) from the synagogue. But Pastor Bobby Kelly said he and his staff sheltered in place Thursday when they heard about the attack. Police even drove around the church.
“When you hear of something happening,” Kelly said, “you don’t know where it’s going to happen next.”
Police vehicles sit outside the Temple Israel synagogue Friday, March 13, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mitch Marner isn't about to start bragging, to express any kind of feelings of vindication in proving wrong those who questioned and even doubted whether he could deliver at this time of year.
There has indeed been magic in Marner's play as he leads the Vegas Golden Knights into their Western Conference final series that opens Wednesday night at Colorado.
His 18 points led all NHL skaters through Sunday and includes possibly the goal of the year in Thursday's 5-1 close-out victory at Anaheim.
This production is what his hometown Maple Leafs expected when Toronto drafted him fourth overall in 2015. While Marner became one of the NHL’s top play-making forwards, he took the brunt of criticism for the Leafs failing to advance beyond the second round.
“I don't care what anyone says,” Marner said. “I've been in the league a long time now, so I'll focus on what I can control.”
That includes leading the Golden Knights to the NHL's final four.
“I think the media in Toronto is pretty big and they put a lot of pressure on the players,” Golden Knights wing Ivan Barbashev said. “He's showing completely different things over here. He's been scoring and making a lot of plays, so hopefully he stays the same way.”
Vegas has never been afraid to chase big names and it has a locker room full of such players. Acquiring Marner in a sign-and-trade was the splash deal of last year's offseason, reaching an agreement on an eight-year, $96 million contract.
This postseason is why the Golden Knights pursued him. They followed their 2023 Stanley Cup title team by getting bounced in the first round the following year and the second round last season.
Marner produced two goals and an assist in Game 6 of the opening series to eliminate Utah 5-1. He had a hat trick and an assist to take back home-ice advantage in Game 3 of Round 2 at Anaheim, and ended that series by setting the tone with a goal 1:02 into the Game 6 clincher that few players on the planet could execute.
William Karlsson began by hitting Marner in stride with a perfect stretch pass to spring the breakaway. But with Jackson LaCombe staying with Marner, he fought off the Ducks defenseman, turned his back to the goal and shot the puck between his legs to put Vegas ahead 1-0.
“His IQ is on a different level,” Barbashev said. “He plays defensively and is a 200(-foot) player. He does it all.”
John Tortorella, who became the Golden Knights coach with eight games left in the regular season, sees the same thing about Marner.
“When you're with him every day, you can see his habits," Tortorella said. "You can see the little things he does in the game. Other people see his goals and assists, maybe like the goal he scored the other night. I look at the small things. A lot of people don't realize how the small things turn to bigger things.”
Tortorella, like Bruce Cassidy before him, hasn't been afraid to use Marner in a number of ways, be it at center or wing, the first line or the second.
When the Golden Knights ran a five-forward power play, Marner was the quarterback at the top. Now with defenseman Shea Theodore in that spot with the top unit, the Golden Knights have deployed Marner down lower to better use his ability to score or help someone else find the back of the net.
“There’s even games where the other team carries the game, and they come out on top because of their patience and play-making ability, and Marner has a lot to do with that,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “Power play, short-handed, five-on-five, he plays all situations and is dangerous in all of them.”
It's not that Marner didn't play at a high level in Toronto. He scored a career-high 102 points in the 2024-25 season, one of four times he topped 90.
He also produced 13 points in 13 playoff games last year and 14 points in 11 postseason games two years earlier.
But the Maple Leafs as a team didn't play up to expectations, and thus the deal to send Marner to Vegas. Now the Golden Knights are a series away from potentially competing in their third Stanley Cup Final in their nine years in the league, and the Maple Leafs failed to reach the playoffs but won the draft lottery.
Maybe there's another Marner in their future.
“I've always believed I'm a good player," Marner said. “I'm not thinking of anything, just go out there and try to play hockey.”
AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Centennial, Colorado, contributed to this report.
AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from left, celebrates his goal with goaltender Carter Hart during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Vegas Golden Knights right wing Mitch Marner, second from right, celebrates after scoring on Anaheim Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, during the first period in Game 6 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart, left, and right wing Mitch Marner congratulate each other after the Golden Knights defeated the Anaheim Ducks in Game 3 of a second-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Friday, May 8, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
