Who is left to run toward the gunfire of a simultaneous attack in a nearby city, or even the same city, when everyone has run toward the gunfire at the first scene?
March 12 Attacks: Temple Israel and Old Dominion University
It is almost a month later, and Americans are still digesting the March 12th attacks at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, MI, which is in my backyard, and at Old Dominion University. Thankfully, heroes quickly reacted at both incidents, saving countless lives. The attackers at both Temple Israel and Old Dominion are dead, with no loss of innocent life at Temple Israel and one dead and two injured at Old Dominion. All the credit goes to the heroes who quickly intervened to neutralize both attackers.
What We Know So Far: Preliminary Information from Authorities
So, what do we know about these attackers? First, it is important to note that the information released by authorities is preliminary, as their investigations are in the initial stages.
Temple Israel: Suspect, Timeline, and Reported Motive
Let us start with Temple Israel. According to authorities, Ayman Mohammad Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon, rammed his vehicle into Temple Israel and was engaged by armed security. Ghazali tried to drive his vehicle farther into the building and inadvertently trapped himself inside his vehicle. Ghazali ignited improvised explosives and potentially shot himself because he could not exit the vehicle. At this time, we do not know if any of the shots fired by armed security hit Ghazali. Authorities in Israel have said that Ghazali’s potential motive was retaliation—avenging his brother’s death, a Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Old Dominion: Suspect Background and Terror-Related Conviction
Let us transition to Old Dominion. The shooter, Mohamed Bailor Jalloh, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Sierra Leone, opened fire, killing one and injuring two before ROTC students intervened, saving countless lives. What is especially troubling is that Jalloh, a former uniformed service member in the Virginia National Guard, had previously pleaded guilty to providing material support to a terrorist organization—ISIS.
In 2017, Jalloh was imprisoned for 11 years and released in 2024. Jalloh appeared to have targeted service members, as it was widely reported that the sole fatality was Lt. Col. Brandon Shah—a Professor of Military Science at Old Dominion. Lt. Col. Shah was the quintessential “Hero Next Door,” and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and with the victims and their families.
So, what commonalities do we see? Both attackers were not born in the United States, and both specifically chose targets based upon their identity. Ghazali attacked a Jewish place of worship, and Jalloh targeted our soldiers. Currently, authorities have not made a connection between the two attackers. In this threat landscape, with the potential of several thousand terrorist sleeper cells inside the United States and the ongoing conflict involving Iran, what lessons can law enforcement learn from their response?
Let us focus on Temple Israel. Before I do, please know that this piece is not meant to be an indictment or criticism of how our brothers and sisters responded—I personally know many who responded, and they are selfless servants, Michiganders, and patriots. They are what makes our country great. These men and women responded with the information they had at the time and selflessly put their lives on the line, entering the unknown to search for the attacker(s) and save lives.
Many were hospitalized for smoke inhalation caused by the toxic fumes of the vehicle fire while searching for armed attackers and placed themselves near unexploded improvised explosives to evacuate the innocent.
These men and women were doing God’s work—searching for and looking to neutralize the attacker and save lives.
Again, hindsight is twenty-twenty, and at the time, the responding police officers and sheriff’s deputies did not know what they were dealing with, nor did they have the facts that we all know now. They had to rely on radio communication from dispatch, their fellow officers, initial statements from those on the scene, and their observations to inform their response.
Rethinking Active Shooter Doctrine: A Call for Law Enforcement to Reassess
It is within that context, and fully aware of the “fog of war” that these men and women were trying to draw clarity from, that I would like to offer an opinion to get our law enforcement community to reconsider our traditional response to active shooters.
Traditionally, our community was “institutionalized” to conceptualize the active shooter threat as a sole attacker in a school. Naturally, police across the country trained for active shooter response in the hallways and classrooms of their communities’ schools. In all honesty, that was the focus—and rightfully so—considering the epidemic of school shootings that have swept the nation in the years after Columbine.
As we have repeatedly seen, the traditional response, including the response at Temple Israel, involved several dozen police cars from local, county, state, and federal agencies. Some responding agencies were not what we would consider geographically close, nor were they presumably responding according to a mutual aid agreement based upon the distance they traveled and the size of West Bloomfield.
Again, as Jim Etzin so eloquently articulated on a recent episode of The Hero Next Door, we want those “alphas” policing our streets who are willing to run toward the gunfire. I commend every single one of those officers who answered the call at Temple Israel. They are truly the best of us, and we are grateful that they answered the call.
The Hard Question: Diversionary Attacks, Depleted Response, and National Security Risk
Here is the question I will pose to our community: Who is left to run toward the gunfire of a simultaneous attack in a nearby city, or even the same city, when everyone has run toward the gunfire at the first scene? What happens when terrorists study our response and launch a diversionary attack, and then, shortly after, launch one or several more attacks with the goal of depleting resources and response?
This is not black and white, and there are many shades of gray depending on the city, resources, etc. Considering our current threat landscape, the threat posed by the Iranian regime—one of the largest state sponsors of terrorism—and the potential of several thousand terrorist sleeper cells, we owe it to our citizens to have this candid conversation.
God bless the “alphas” who answer the call every day, and to those who saved countless lives at Temple Israel and Old Dominion.
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