WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke on Friday, one day after a terrorist rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield and died at the hands of security guards before he hurt anyone.

“Yesterday’s attack was antisemitism. It was hate, plain and simple,” Whitmer said at a press conference. “We will fight this ancient and rampant evil and will stand together as we do it and we’ll call it out. We must lower the rhetoric in the state and in this country, especially at this moment when we’ve seen such a rise in antisemitism and more attacks on the Jewish community.”

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All 140 preschool students and staff at Temple Israel were evacuated safely. The investigation is being lead by the FBI. Lebanese-born 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali lived in Dearborn Heights and entered the United States as the spouse of a American citizen in 2011 under the Obama administration. He received citizenship in 2016. Law enforcement were seen at his Dearborn Heights home overnight.

The Temple Israel terrorist attack occurred on the same day as a deadly attack at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virigina. The shooter there was identified as former Virginia National Guardsman Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, 36, who had ties to ISIS. That incident is being investigated as a terror-related attack.