A shooting that occurred this Thursday at a university in Virginia and another at a synagogue in Michigan, investigated respectively as a terrorist act and the second as anti-Semitic violence, set off alarms in the United States in the midst of the war in Iran, although authorities have not linked the events to the offensive.
The two alleged attackers, who did not act in a coordinated manner, died in both shootings and only one fatality was recorded in the one at the University of Virginia. The events occur at a time when the FBI has raised the terrorist alert in the United States and reinforced security measures due to possible reprisals to the war in the Middle East.
The FBI is investigating as an “act of terrorism” the shooting that occurred at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where the attacker, identified as Mohamed Jalloh, killed one person and injured two others, before dying at the hands of other students, according to the FBI.
Suspected of links to the Islamic State, shouting “allahu akbar”
Jalloh, a 36-year-old American citizen from Sierra Leone, repeatedly shouted “allahu akbar” (“God is the greatest,” in Arabic) during the attack. According to FBI Special Agent Dominique Evans, the suspect was imprisoned between 2017 and 2024 for links to the Islamist terrorist group Islamic State (IS), for which he tried to obtain weapons and financial support.
Jalloh opened fire in one of the campus buildings and was found dead minutes later by police. According to authorities, the attacker was subdued and subdued by Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) students who were on campus.
“The shooter died thanks to a group of brave students who intervened and subdued him,” FBI Director Kash Patel detailed on social media. As confirmed by the Virginia National Guard to Fox News, Jalloh served in that force between 2009 and 2015.
Attack on a synagogue
At the same time, a man armed with a rifle rammed a vehicle into the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, near Detroit (Michigan), and a shootout broke out in which he was shot dead by the center’s security guards.
The only victim was one of the guards who was run over but authorities expect him to recover satisfactorily. The authorities are investigating it as “an act of violence against the Jewish community,” FBI special agent Jennifer Runyan reported in a press conference in which she did not offer information about the identity of the attacker.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, described what happened in Michigan as “terrible” and said that the authorities will get “to the bottom of the matter” during an official event at the White House.
Temple Israel Synagogue of West Bloomfield is a leading religious, educational and community center for the Detroit-area Jewish community and is considered the largest Reform congregation in the United States.
Over the past few years, both the FBI and the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization, have recorded an increase in acts of anti-Semitic violence in the United States.
Michigan, in the Midwest of the country, has one of the largest Arab communities in the country and a significant Jewish community, especially concentrated in the Detroit metropolitan area.
“This is heartbreaking. The Jewish community of Michigan should be able to live and practice their faith in peace. Anti-Semitism and violence have no place in Michigan. I hope everyone is safe,” said Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, upon learning of what happened.
