00:00Terrible, terrible smoke in that part of the building and so when all of our people collectively
00:04went in that building to search out the threat to remove innocent, a lot of them took in
00:11significant amount of smoke inhalation and they're at the hospital being treated.
00:15Local community is where first and foremost is this community works together hand in glove.
00:22This community takes care of each other. No children and no staff were hurt.
00:27You all set in the back? You're all balanced and stuff? Everybody? Everybody good?
00:36Well thank you for coming. I'm Mike Bouchard. I'm the Oakland County Sheriff. Excuse me,
00:40I'm kind of losing my voice. A lot going on today. I kind of want to give the 20,000
00:46foot level and then
00:48we're going to have a number of speakers both from the police department here, Chief Young, and from
00:54the FBI. Obviously a horrific thing happened tragically here in Oakland County again so we've
01:03been through a number of these things and the one thing that I want to make sure the local community
01:07is aware of first and foremost is this community works together hand in glove. This community takes
01:14care of each other and we have been communicating regularly. I have been texting the chief not just
01:21in West Bloomfield but every place that's got significant houses of worship, Jewish facilities,
01:27synagogues, temples, you name it, over the past two weeks. Obviously what happens around the world
01:33sometimes affects us so we have to think about it and be prepared for it. So we've been talking.
01:38I text actually the head of security from the temple two days ago and communicated some information
01:45to him. So the first thing the community should know is that we not just today work together,
01:50we work together all the time. Our state, our federal, and local partners. Number one. Number two,
01:57we train. In our world preparation is important. We hope and pray it never happens but that's not a
02:03strategy. Preparation is so all of us have been training together for many years for active shooters
02:09or active assailants mass casualty events and tragically we've had way more than our share. So that is
02:16ongoing and is in place. The third thing it's important to note, no children and no staff were hurt.
02:24So we know there's evil in the world and we know they only have to get it right once and
02:30sometimes they
02:31do. They may not come on anybody's radar and they show up but what happens when they show up that's
02:37where
02:38training and preparation kicks in. The security staff did an amazing job. An amazing job and you'll get
02:45some of the details on that but they stopped the threat. No kids, no staff were hurt. Now there were
02:51some injuries and things that had to be taken care of. One of the head of security was taken to
02:56the
02:56hospital. He got knocked down by the car when it breached the building and we've had 30 law enforcement
03:02officers taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation. So a lot of our folks from my SWAT team and other
03:09agencies are still in treatment because that building became engulfed in the car. And we'll
03:16learn all of that through the investigation. Why it became engulfed in flames? What was the ignition
03:22source? And I think the ATF has taken the origin of that source and origin of the fire. But in
03:29any
03:29event what it did, it caused terrible, terrible smoke in that part of the building. And so when
03:34all of our people collectively went in that building to search out the threat to remove innocent,
03:40a lot of them took in significant amount of smoke inhalation and they're at the hospital being treated.
03:46So I also know you're going to have a lot of questions. A lot of those questions can't be answered
03:53at this point because it's super preliminary in the investigation. You know, all of us have thoughts of
03:59maybe why this happened, but we don't operate in a world where we can presume something. We have
04:04to determine it through investigation and specificity. And that is a work that's in progress as we speak.
04:11All of us will work seamlessly together to get the answers and then it will be called what it is.
04:16Obviously, it's a hateful, terror, terror, terrible thing, right? But what drove this person into action,
04:23that has to be determined by the investigation. We can presume, but we have to find those facts and
04:29that's going to happen over the next days in time. So we won't be able to get into a lot
04:35of the
04:36evidentiary questions. But we're available to make sure the community understands that we are still on
04:43a very heightened platform. And the most important thing that I would tell the community, don't be afraid
04:47to call us. If we're not your own local police department, call your local police department.
04:52We'd rather respond to 100 nothings and miss one real deal. The only way we prevent something like
04:58this is to get a call. Something's off with my son, my brother, my boyfriend, whatever the case,
05:04I saw something posted. That's the only way we interdict because people are more likely to see or
05:11hear something before us. So if you see or hear something, you have to communicate that. And then we can
05:17intervene and hopefully prevent. But if we can't prevent, then we respond and mitigate. That's
05:22what happened today. And I think based on the early information, it happened flawlessly.
05:27So with that, I'll kick it over to my friend, Chief Young from West Bloomfield Police Department.
05:33Thank you, Sheriff. My name is Dale Young. I'm the police chief of West Bloomfield.
05:37I want to share with you how we got to where we are today. So today we received a 911
05:43call,
05:43which came in around 1219 PM. It was about an active shooter situation at Temple Israel where
05:49the individual drove into the building. West Bloomfield officers arrived on scene under five
05:54minutes. Temple security officers engaged the individual and neutralized the threat.
05:59Our officers combined with area agencies cleared the building multiple times and safely and successfully
06:06evacuated all children and staff. This is an active crime scene and we are examining every angle
06:12related to this situation. I will now turn this over to the FBI for further comment.
06:21Hello. My name is Jennifer Runyon, last name R-U-N-Y-A-N, and I'm a special agent in
06:28charge of the FBI
06:29Detroit field office. This is a deeply disturbing and tragic incident and our deepest sympathies are with
06:36the victims, their family and the entire Jewish community. The FBI is here working with our state,
06:43local and federal partners to investigate this incident and I can confirm that we are leading
06:47the investigation right now as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.
06:54As my partners have said, this is an active and ongoing investigation with an active crime scene and
06:59I ask for your patience as we process this evidence and pursue every lead that has come to us and
07:05that
07:05we have developed thus far. What I can share is this, there was one subject involved in this incident
07:11who is now deceased. As my partners have said, we've had no victim fatalities. I would not be able to
07:17provide additional information at this time on the subject or his motive as our goal is to protect the
07:23integrity of this investigation and to ensure that we give you accurate and timely information as soon
07:28as we can. The FBI was notified of active reports, excuse me, of active shooter at Temple Israel at
07:34approximately 1245. We immediately activated and deployed all of our crisis response resources,
07:40which includes our SWAT team, our crisis negotiation team, our evidence response team, our special agent
07:46bomb techs, our weapons of mass destruction team, our cellular analysis survey team,
07:52and our victim services, as well as more than 100 agents and analysts to ensure that we are actively
07:58mitigating and responding to the active threat, but also pursuing diligently and methodically every lead
08:04that we have. My ask to the public is a few things. I know everyone wants information now, but I
08:14ask that you
08:14be patient as we are still processing this scene and still pursuing everything that we can and that has come
08:20to us
08:20today. Second, we've activated a digital media tip line for any witnesses who has photos or videos of the incident
08:29today. They can upload those at www.fbi.gov forward slash West Bloomfield attack, all one word.
08:40But the public can also report through our call line at 1-800-CALL-FBI. If you have any information
08:46about this
08:47incident and or any other suspicious activity that you see around in your community, your life, your
08:53places of worship, your schools. As the sheriff said, we all need to remain vigilant and it takes
08:57the whole community to ensure that we remain safe. I also understand that congregants may have left
09:03some personal effects at the synagogue and as soon as we have a reunification site to get those effects
09:08to the affected victims. We will be sure and release that as soon as possible. I want to thank our
09:15partners and the first responders and the security personnel at Temple Israel who did an excellent job
09:19at mitigating this threat and we are very grateful for their bravery and their service. Next, I'd like to
09:25bring up our offer up Stephen Inberg, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit.
09:34As the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit, I'd love to say I'm shocked or I'm surprised,
09:40but I'm not. This is something that we train for. Thank you to all of the law enforcement officers who
09:45stand behind us and the many who don't. Thank you to our Jewish community security team.
09:50This is a tough time. It is a tough time, but we will get through this. We'll get through this
09:55together. We'll get through this stronger and we'll continue to be loud and proud of being Jewish.
10:01This will not change us. This will not deter us and we will continue. With that,
10:06I'd like to turn over to Rabbi Ariana Gordon of Temple Israel.
10:12Thank you so much. As you've heard, there's so much that we don't know. We're going to be
10:15processing all of this in the days and weeks to come. But what I do want to say is a
10:21huge thank
10:21you to our law enforcement, to our Temple Israel security team, and to our early childhood center
10:27teachers who were the true rock stars of the day. They ensured that all of our children remain safe
10:33and calm throughout the entire day and got every single child safely reunited with their parents this
10:39afternoon. And for that, I can't express my gratitude enough. We are really appreciative to all of you
10:46for making sure that everyone made it home tonight. Thank you for being here.
10:55Okay, I think that's it. Obviously, can't get into the evidentiary questions, as I said, but
11:01I think the message is clear that we all stand united and stand together, whether it's
11:05federal, state, county, or local. We're committed to keeping this community safe. If you think you
11:11can target the Jewish community in this county or anywhere in this state, you're wrong. We're
11:16going to not only stand in front of them to protect them, we're coming for you. So with that, thank
11:22you.
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