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(WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich.) — The man armed with fireworks who rammed his truck into a West Bloomfield, Michigan, synagogue was carrying out “a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community and the largest Jewish temple in Michigan,” the FBI said.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was “motivated and inspired by Hezbollah’s militant ideology” for his March 12 attack at Temple Israel, Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said at a news conference on Monday.

Ghazali — who wanted to kill as many people as possible, Runyan said — died at the scene. Dozens of law enforcement officers were hurt in the incident but nobody inside the synagogue was injured, authorities said.

On March 9, three days before the attack, Ghazali, 41, started looking at web pages for local synagogues, Runyan said.

He tried to buy a gun from two different people. After they said no, he bought an AR-style rifle at a gun store, along with 10 rifle magazines and approximately 300 rounds of ammunition, she said.

Ghazali searched online for phrases including “largest gathering of Israelis in Michigan” and “Israelis near me,” and tried to delete his search history, Runyan said.

He also practiced using his gun at a shooting range and purchased more than $2,200 worth of fireworks, she said.

On March 11, he began adding photos to a Facebook photo album that he called “vengeance,” Runyan said. He posted images that included Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28, she said.

On March 12, the morning of the attack, Ghazali posted numerous photos of his deceased family members to Facebook, and he wrote online, “We will seek retribution for his sacred blood,” according to Runyan.

Ghazali’s two brothers and several other relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 5, a town official in Mashghara, Lebanon, told ABC News earlier this month.

On March 12, while sitting in the synagogue parking lot, Ghazali sent his sister “19 videos, photos and messages that reiterated his intent to commit a mass terrorist attack, as well as affirming his Hezbollah-inspired ideology,” Runyan said. 

Ghazali also exchanged several short phone calls with his ex-wife shortly before the attack, Runyan said. The ex-wife called local police requesting a welfare check, she said.

On the afternoon of March 12, Ghazali plowed his truck into the synagogue and struck a security guard, authorities said. When Ghazali’s truck jammed in a hallway, he opened fire, authorities said, and security guards returned fire.

The synagogue became engulfed in fire. Runyan said Ghazali used approximately 35 gallons of gasoline.

Ghazali died at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound during an exchange of gunfire with security guards, officials said.

Dozens of law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation, authorities said, but nobody inside the synagogue was hurt, including all 140 students at the building’s preschool. The security guard hit by the suspect’s truck was expected to be OK, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.

Runyan said she couldn’t say whether Ghazali was inspired by the strikes in Iran but did say he was “engaging in that ideology” before his relatives’ deaths. She said the FBI has not been able to verify if Ghazali — a U.S. citizen with no criminal history — was in Hezbollah.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Jerome Gorgon said at Monday’s news conference, “Had this man lived, I’m convinced that my office would prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he committed the federal crime of providing material support to Hezbollah.”

Ghazali “acted under Hezbollah’s direct and control,” Gorgon said. “Terrorist propaganda is designed to activate the so-called ‘lone wolf’ to act on behalf of the terrorist organization.”

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(AFFTON, Mo.) — Police in Missouri said the report of a 5-year-old girl who went missing after she was left unattended in a running vehicle that was then stolen was a “hoax” — and that two women involved are expected to face charges.

An Amber Alert had been issued for an “Aleise Dawson,” who had been reported taken shortly before 8 a.m. local time in Affton, Missouri, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.

The Amber Alert has since been canceled after detectives learned a child had never been abducted, police said Monday afternoon. The reporting party recanted their story “after an intense investigation,” according to the St. Louis County Police Department.

“While we are extremely grateful that there is no child in danger, we want to be very clear — we will use all available resources to ensure our community members, especially the most vulnerable among us, are safe,” the St. Louis County Police Department said in a statement.

St. Louis County Police Lt. Col. Jerry Lohr said the department is seeking charges for filing a false police report.

“It’s important to note the amount of time and resources and the allocation of our resources that go into something like this. We take this very, very seriously,” he said during a press briefing Monday afternoon.

The story “unraveled” as police began to ask more questions about the reported missing child, Lohr said.

According to Lohr, one of the women involved told police that she was taking care of her dead sister’s child, who had been left in her car that was then stolen. The woman’s roommate had a similar story, he said.

Once detectives began contacting other family members, “it became apparent that that was not the case,” he said.

Amid the search, the police department said it did not have a photograph of the child. The lack of photos, as well as any children’s clothing or sightings of the child by other people, were “indicators” that led police to believe there was no missing child, Lohr said.

There was, however, a stolen car, Lohr said. A motive remains under investigation as to why a child was falsely reported missing, he said.

“I don’t know if there was a sense of panic. I don’t know if the individual thought that they would get more response to the fact that their vehicle had been stolen,” Lohr said. “I can’t speak to the motivation of the individual.”

It was reported to police that the guardian had placed the child in the car, gone inside a residence to get something and “came back out and the car was gone,” St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson Vera Clay during a press briefing earlier Monday.

Officers responded to search for the reported missing child, and the vehicle was located several blocks away about two hours after the 911 call, according to Lohr.

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(WASHINGTON) —  Transportation Security Administration officers received their first paychecks in more than a month on Monday, TSA workers told ABC News.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TSA, told ABC News in a statement on Monday that most employees will receive at least two full paychecks for the past two pay periods.

DHS also said there might be slight delays in some receiving their paychecks due to “financial institution processing times or issues with their direct deposit.”

It remains unclear if TSA employees will receive any pay going forward and there have been reports of some not getting paid if they called out.

Payments came after President Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Friday asking for DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin to work with the Office of Management and Budget to use funds “that have a reasonable and logical nexus to TSA operations” to pay the agency’s workforce. The TSA employees will be paid through funds allocated by Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill signed last summer, according to a senior administration official.

TSA employees have been required to work the entire 45 days of the partial shutdown, which began Feb. 14. TSA officers told ABC News that they missed bill payments and got second jobs to pay ends meet. Union representatives described to ABC News stories of officers having to pull their children out of day care and, in some cases, getting eviction notices because they can’t pay their rent.

“It was a partial pay with ample deductions taken out along with taxes,” Yolanda Keaton, a TSA officer at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, told ABC News on Monday. “We did not receive all of our backpay … A lot of officers paychecks are very very short and not everyone received their pay today.”

Addressing reports from some TSA officers about missing portions of their paychecks, Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement to ABC, “We are working aggressively with USDA’s [United States Department of Agriculture] National Finance Center to complete processing for the half paycheck they are owed from pay period 3 as soon as possible.” 

According to a government website, the USDA helps to manage payroll for more than 590,000 federal employees.

It is unclear what legal authority Trump issued Friday’s order under, and the White House hasn’t responded to ABC News’ request for comment.

Speaking prior to Trump’s move, Paul Uecker, a TSA officer at Duluth International Airport and Vice President of Greater Minnesota American Federation of Government Employees Local 899, told ABC News about the hardship people at the agency have endured.

“I know of at least one officer at MSP (Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport) who quit because they were having eviction processes started against them,” Uecker said on Friday. “They needed to find a way to get some money so that they could hopefully avoid that.”

Federal employees experienced the longest full shutdown in the nation’s history — 43 days — last fall. TSA officers told ABC News that they had depleted their savings after the last shutdown and were not fully recovered when the partial shutdown began in February.

Senate Democrats vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement.

The Senate came to a deal on Friday morning to fund DHS, excluding appropriations for immigration enforcement, but the House Republicans rejected it. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, said his party will instead push for a short-term bill to fund the entire department for 60 days.

The House passed the 60-day short-term bill, but the Senate didn’t. Congress is now on a two-week spring recess and will not return for a vote until April 13.

“I feel like they’re playing with our lives,” Oksana Kelly, a TSA officer at Orlando International Airport and mother of two, told ABC News on Thursday. “We all have children. We all have parents that, you know, people [to] take care of. It’s not just some random officers. It’s real people.”

Also speaking before Trump’s memo, Kelly and her husband Deron are both TSA officers who have been working without pay during the shutdown and said they have depleted their savings because of both shutdowns. Deron had to take a second job as a DoorDash driver, according to Kelly.

She was tearful when she described her inability to give their 7-year-old son the birthday party that he wanted at a trampoline park.

“This is probably the hardest thing I have to do,” Oksana Kelly told ABC News as she wiped away tears. “He’s like, ‘Is this something we’re doing?’ And we’re like, ‘Sorry buddy, you know this birthday is going to be at the community park because Mommy and Daddy can’t afford the trampoline park.'”

Trump deployed ICE agents to airports around the country last Monday to assist TSA officers with long lines at security checkpoints. Some officers told ABC News that the ICE personnel were not doing anything to address those lines because they aren’t trained in screening passengers and baggage. TSA officers get about six months of training to do their jobs, according to employees who spoke to ABC News.

“They’re outside the security area, watching as people are coming in, watching as people are coming out. We were told that they were supposed to be there to offer us assistance, and there’s been no assistance,” Maggie Sabatino, a TSA employee at Philadelphia International Airport, told ABC News on Wednesday. “Standing around and just watching, it’s not helping us. It’s putting us on edge, like we’re waiting for something to happen. We’re afraid of something happening.”

TSA saw the highest call-out rates of the shutdown on Thursday with more than 3,450 officers out, according to newly released numbers from TSA. George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston was the worst, with a callout rate of 44.4%. The second worst was Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where Keaton works.

Keaton, who is also a steward for AFGE Local 554, told ABC News last Monday about a colleague of hers who is a single mother.

“She has a child that she has to face every day. It’s hard for her to smile with her child when she doesn’t know where their next meal is going to come from,” Keaton told ABC News. “She doesn’t know if she’s going to keep her apartment because she’s had eviction notices.”

ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Luke Barr, Emily Chang, Nicholas Kerr, John Parkinson, Isabella Murray and Jeana Fermi contributed to this report.

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(MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Tenn.) — The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a crash involving a school bus in Tennessee that killed two middle school students.

The NTSB said it has “initiated a safety investigation in coordination with the Tennessee Highway Patrol” into Friday’s deadly crash in Carroll County.

“The NTSB investigation will examine school bus driver performance, student passenger occupant protection, and the oversight of school transportation operations,” the agency said in a statement on Monday.

The investigation can take one to two years to complete, with a preliminary report possible in about 30 days, the NTSB said.

The crash involved a school bus from Montgomery County, a Tennessee Department of Transportation dump truck and a Chevrolet Trailblazer, authorities said. Dash cam video showed the bus initially colliding with the dump truck.

“The details of the crash are still ongoing,” Tennessee Highway Patrol Maj. Travis Plotzer said at a press briefing on Friday, adding that it doesn’t appear the dump truck “had any contributing factors to the crash.”

Two students on the school bus were pronounced dead at the scene, the Tennessee Highway Patrol said. Authorities have not released any additional details on them.

Several others were injured in the crash, with multiple victims airlifted to trauma centers in Memphis and Nashville, authorities said.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

The Clarksville-Montgomery County School System said a group of eighth grade students and educators from Kenwood Middle School were on the bus headed to Jackson, Tennessee, for a weekend competition when the crash occurred.

“In a moment, their lives and their families’ lives were upended,” Clarksville-Montgomery County School System Director Jean Luna-Vedder said in a message to the school community over the weekend. “As a mother and a lifelong educator, I cannot begin to imagine the fear and pain they continue to endure. I ask that everyone pray and wrap their arms around these students, employees, their families, and the entire Kenwood community.”

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(AFFTON, Mo.) — A 5-year-old girl is missing after she was left unattended in a running vehicle that was then stolen, authorities in Missouri said Monday.

An Amber Alert has been issued for Aleise Dawson, who was taken around 8 a.m. local time in Affton, Missouri, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.

“The vehicle has been recovered, but the child has not,” the St. Louis County Police Department said.

The child started living with a guardian, who is believed to be a relative, within the past few weeks, according to St. Louis County Police Department spokesperson Vera Clay.

The guardian had placed the child in the car, gone inside a residence to get something and “came back out and the car was gone,” Clay said during a press briefing on Monday.

Officers responded to search for Aleise, and the vehicle was located several blocks away, according to Clay.

It is unclear if the person who took the vehicle is known to the child and guardian, or if this was “completely random,” Clay said. Police are treating it as an abduction, she said.

“There’s a 5-year-old out there and no one knows where she is. So we are going to utilize every resource that we have available to our department,” including helicopter air support, Clay said.

The police department said it does not have a photograph of the child, whom they described as a Black girl standing 2 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 60 pounds. She has four ponytails and was last seen wearing a pink T-shirt with the words “Flower Power” on it and blue shorts, police said.

Anyone with information is urged to call 636-529-8210 or 911.

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(COMAL COUNTY, Texas) — A 15-year-old boy allegedly shot a teacher at his Texas high school on Monday morning, authorities said.

The suspect died at the scene at Hill Country College Preparatory High School in Comal County, about 30 miles north of San Antonio, the Comal County Sheriff’s Office said.

A teacher, a female, was taken to a San Antonio hospital in unknown condition, the sheriff’s office said.

The school was placed on lockdown and students were evacuated to be reunited with their parents, authorities said.

“There is no ongoing threat to students,” the sheriff’s department said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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