What is Reform Judaism? Here’s what to know after an attack on one of its largest US synagogues

Thanks. Well, thank you for coming. I’m, uh, Mike Bouchard. I’m the Oakland County Sheriff. Excuse me, I’m kind of losing my voice. *** lot going on today. Um, I kinda wanna give the 20,000 ft level, and then, um, we’re going to have ***, *** number of, of speakers, um, both from the police department here, Chief Young, and from the FBI. Um, Obviously *** horrific thing happened tragically here in Oakland County again. Um, so we’ve been through *** number of these things, and the one thing that I want to make sure the local community is aware of first and foremost is this community works together hand in glove. This community takes care of each other. And we have been communicating regularly. I have been texting the chief, uh, not just in West Bloomfield, but every place that’s got significant houses of worship, Jewish facilities, synagogues, uh, temples, you name it, over the past two weeks. Obviously what happens around the world sometimes affects us, so we have to think about it and be prepared for it. So we’ve been talking. I text actually the head of security from the temple 2 days ago. And communicated some information to him. So the first thing the community should know is that we not just today work together, we work together all the time, our state, our federal, and local partners. Number 1, #2, we train in our world, preparation is important. We hope and pray it never happens. But that’s not *** strategy. Preparation is, so all of us have been training together for many years for active shooters, or active assailants, mass casualty events, and tragically we’ve had way more than our share. So that is ongoing and is in place. The third thing that’s important to note, no children and no staff were hurt. So we know there’s evil in the world, and we know they only have to get it right once. And sometimes they do. They may not come on anybody’s radar and they show up, but what happens when they show up? That’s where training and preparation kicks in. The security staff did an amazing job. An amazing job and you’ll get some of the details on that, but they stopped the threat. No kids, no staff were hurt. Now there were some injuries and things that had to be taken care of. One of the head of security was taken to the hospital. He got knocked down by the car when it breached the building, and we’ve had 30 law enforcement officers taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. So *** lot of our folks uh from my SWAT team and other agencies are still in treatment because that building became engulfed when the car. Uh, and we’ll learn all of that through the investigation why it became engulfed in flames, what was the ignition source, and I, I think the ATF has taken that the the origin of that source and the origin of the fire. But in any event, what it did, it caused terrible, terrible smoke in that part of the building. And so when all of our people collectively went in that building to search out the threat to remove innocent. *** lot of them took in *** significant amount of smoke inhalation and they’re at the hospital being treated, so. I also know you’re going to have *** lot of questions. *** lot of those questions can’t be answered at this point because it’s super preliminary in the investigation. You know, all of us have thoughts of maybe why this happened, but we don’t operate in *** world where we can presume something. We have to determine it through investigation and specificity, and that is *** work that’s in progress as we speak. All of us will work seamlessly together to get the answers, and then it will be called what it is. Obviously, it’s *** hateful terror, terror, terrible thing, right? But what drove this person into action, that has to be determined by the investigation. We can presume, but we have to find those facts and that’s going to happen over the next days in time. So, um, we won’t be able to get into *** lot of the evidentiary questions, um, but we’re available to make sure the community understands. That we are still on *** very heightened platform and the most important thing that I would tell the community, don’t be afraid to call us if we’re not your own local police department, call your local police department. We’d rather respond to 100 nothings and miss one real deal. The only way we prevent something like this is to get *** call. Something’s off with my son, my brother, my boyfriend, whatever the case. I saw something posted. That’s the only way we interdict because people are more likely to see or hear something before us. So if you see or hear something, you have to communicate that and then we can intervene and hopefully prevent. But if we can’t prevent, then we respond and mitigate. That’s what happened today, and I think based on the early information it happened flawlessly. So with that, I’ll, I’ll kick it over to my friend Chief Young from West Bloomfield Police Department. Thank you, Sheriff. My name is Dale Young. I’m the police chief of West Bloomfield. I want to share with you how we got to where we are today. So today we received *** 911 call which came in around 12:19 p.m. It was about an active shooter situation at Temple Israel where the individual drove into the building. West Bloomfield officers arrived on scene under 5 minutes. Temple security officers engaged the individual and neutralized the threat. Our officers combined with area agencies cleared the building multiple times and safely and successfully evacuated all children and staff. This is an active crime scene and we are examining every angle related to this situation. I will now turn this over to the FBI for further comment. Hello. My name is Jennifer Runyon. Last name R U N Y *** N, and I’m *** Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office. This is *** deeply disturbing and tragic incident, and our deepest sympathies are with the victims, their family, and the entire Jewish community. The FBI is here working with our state, local, and federal partners to investigate this incident, and I can confirm that we are leading the investigation right now as *** targeted act of violence against the Jewish community. As my partners have said, this is an active and ongoing investigation with an active crime scene, and I ask for your patience as we process this evidence and pursue every lead that has come to us and that we have developed thus far. What I can share is this. There was one subject involved in this incident who is now deceased. As my partners have said, we’ve had no victim fatalities. I would not be able to provide additional information at this time on the subject or his motive, as our goal is to protect the integrity of this investigation and to ensure that we give you accurate and timely information as soon as we can. The FBI was notified of active reports, excuse me, of active shooter at Temple Israel at approximately 12:45. We immediately activated and deployed all of our crisis response resources, which includes our SWAT team, our crisis negotiation team, our evidence response team, our Special agent bomb techs, our weapons of mass destruction team, our cellular analysis survey team. And our victim services, as well as more than 100 agents and analysts to ensure that we are actively mitigating and responding to the active threat, but also pursuing diligently and methodically every lead that we have. I ask to the public is *** few things. I know everyone wants information now, but I ask that you be patient as we are still processing the scene and still pursuing everything that we can and that has come to us today. Second, we’ve activated *** digital media tip line for any witnesses who has photos or videos of the incident today. They can upload those at www.fbi.gov/West Bloomfieldattack, all one word. But the public can also report through our call line at 1-800-CALL-FBI if you have any information about this incident and or any other suspicious activity that you see around in your community, your life, your places of worship, your schools. As the sheriff said, we all need to remain vigilant and it takes the whole community to ensure that we remain safe. I also understand that congregants may have left some personal effects at the synagogue, and as soon as we have *** reunification site to get those effects to the affected victims, we will be sure to release that as soon as possible. I want to thank our partners and the first responders and the security personnel at Temple Israel who did an excellent job of mitigating this threat, and we’re very grateful for their bravery and their service. Next, I’d like to bring up our offer of Steven Ingberg, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit. As the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit. I’d love to say I’m shocked or I’m surprised. But I’m not. This is something that we train for. Thank you to all of the law enforcement officers who stand behind us and the many who don’t. Thank you to our Jewish community security team. This is *** tough time. It’s *** tough time, but we will get through this. We’ll get through this together. We’ll get through this stronger, and we’ll continue to be loud and proud of being Jewish. This will not change us. This will not deter us, and we will continue. With that, I’d like to turn over to Rabbi Ariana Gordon of Temple Israel. Thank you so much. As you’ve heard, there’s so much that we don’t know. We’re gonna be processing all of this in the days and weeks to come, uh, but what I do wanna say is *** huge thank you to our law enforcement, to our Temple Israel security team, and to our early childhood center teachers who were the true rock stars of the day. They ensured that all of our children remain safe and calm throughout the entire day. And got every single child safely reunited with their parents this afternoon and for that, I can’t express my gratitude enough. Um, we are really appreciative to all of you for making sure that everyone made it home tonight. Thank you for being here. OK, I think that’s it. Obviously, we can’t get into the evidentiary questions as I said, but I think the message is clear that we all stand united and stand together, whether it’s federal, state, county, or local. We’re committed to keeping this community safe. If you think you can target the Jewish community in this county or anywhere in this state, you’re wrong. We’re going to not only stand in front of them to protect them, we’re coming for you. So, with that, thank you. That will be all for our media event today. However, the FBI will be giving an update tomorrow. That update information on the location and time can be found on their social media. I ask that you follow their social media. If you have any questions overnight, those inquiries. Be sent over to the FBI Detroit Field Office. Again tomorrow, the FBI will give another media update. That time and location will be determined and put on their social media. Our local agencies will try and share that information with you all as well. Thank you.