As the press conference draws to a close, Whitmer says it was incredible how everyone worked together so quickly and acted selflessly as the potentially deadly attack unfolded.

"It's incredible to see people run to the fire to help kids get out, and everyone got home last night," she says, adding that some were sent to hospital from smoke inhalation.

"But I think that it was amazing to see that they were able to keep everyone, everyone safe at the end of the day," she says.

"It should be a source of pride. It should also be a moment of reflection, where we all ask ourselves, 'why does this happen in this country?'"

Kids aged from zero to five years old were targeted yesterday, Whitmer says. Temple Israel evacuated more than 100 young children from its preschool after the attack.

Someone said to her yesterday that the incident could have looked a lot more like Sandy Hook, referring to the US school shooting in 2012 where 20 young children and six adults were killed, she says.

This is antisemitism at its worst, Whitmer adds.

When she is asked if members of the Jewish community are safe right now going to synagogue, the governor says she knows there are wonderful people planning shabbat dinners and services this evening.

West Bloomfield Township Supervisor Jonathan Warshay says private security and law enforcement are also ready to offer protection. He says "no matter how hard they try, they will not stop us".

Image source, Reuters

Governor Whitmer, while taking questions from the press in the room, says there has been a rise in antisemitism and it is at "a historic high".

"It's why I am calling on anyone with a platform to be very responsible with their rhetoric, not to identify or target the Jewish community. That is antisemitism writ large," she says.

"That's why I'm asking people to turn down the rhetoric," she adds.

Image source, Reuters

Michigan Senator Elisa Slotkin is at the podium now and she also begins by thanking the synagogue's security and staff.

She says if they hadn't done their jobs perfectly yesterday, they would be talking about a tragedy involving schoolchildren today.

She says she has personally spent a lot of time in the area and grew up around this temple, and feels an immense amount of pain from yesterday's incident.

Slotkin says whether antisemitism is coming from the left or the right of the political spectrum, the public has a responsibility to call it out so that it doesn't escalate into violence.

Governor Whitmer continues, saying that yesterday's attack "hits especially hard".

"Temple Israel is a pillar of the community," she says, adding that it is one of the largest reform Jewish congregations in North America.

"Yesterday's attack was antisemitism," she says. "It was hate, plain and simple."

"We will fight this ancient and rampant evil. We will stand together as we do it," she says, adding "we must lower the rhetoric in this state and in this country."

Whitmer says the yesterday's incident has left the community on edge, especially with a rise in attacks on Jewish communities across the US in recent years.

Image source, Reuters

Governor Gretchen Whitmer starts by thanking law enforcement for their swift work, Temple Israel's security personnel, who she says threw themselves in harms way and engaged the suspect.

She says it is a place of worship, but at time attack occurred it was a school.

Whitmer thanks Temple Israel staff as well.

She says the state of Michigan will wrap its arms around the community.

Image source, Getty Images

Governor Gretchen Whitmer and local law enforcement officers in Michigan are about to hold a news conference, a day after an incident at Temple Israel, a synagogue north of Detroit, that involved a car ramming and shooting.

Officials say the suspect in the attack is dead and a security guard at the synagogue was injured.

The FBI is investigating the incident as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community." The incident has put Jewish institutions on high alert across the country.

Local media reports suggest the suspect had family in Lebanon who were killed by Israeli airstrikes.

Stay with us as we bring you updates.

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Live reporter

A suspect is dead, and one security guard is injured at a synagogue in a suburb north of Detroit.

Here is what we know now happened:

• Just after 12:30 ET (16:30 GMT), Michigan police and federal officers began responding to a car ramming and shooting incident at Temple Israel, a synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan
• Authorities later revealed that the suspect drove through the doors of the synagogue with a vehicle, hitting and injuring one security guard
• Other security guards at the synagogue engaged the suspect in gunfire. Authorities later confirmed the suspect was deceased
• The vehicle also caught fire, and smoke could be seen rising from the temple as dozens of police and emergency vehicles responded to the scene. Authorities are now combing the area for explosives
• All synagogue staff and children in the attached daycare were safely evacuated
• Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard says 30 law enforcement officers were hospitalised for smoke inhalation
• The FBI is investigating the incident as a targeted attack on the Jewish community
• No clear motive has been given, and the suspect has not been identified

We are ending our live coverage here, but you can read a summary of the day's events in our story here.

Earlier today, we heard from Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, who confirmed that the suspect was deceased and that security guards at Temple Israel engaged them in gunfire after they drove a vehicle into the building.

The BBC's US partner, CBS News, is reporting new details about that exchange of fire.

Law enforcement sources tell CBS that the suspect was a man and that he exited the vehicle with a rifle before guards shot and killed him.

The FBI and the sheriff's office have not shared the specifics of how the suspect ultimately died, or whether they were armed. The sheriff also said earlier that the suspect died in the vehicle.

This incident is being investigated as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community, says Jennifer Runyan, FBI special agent in charge of the Detroit office.

She confirms that the suspect is deceased, but does not identify them or a motive for the attack.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, will give another update on Friday.

The sheriff calls the crime a "hateful, terrible thing", but does not elaborate on any motive.

"We know there's evil in the world," he says. "When they show up, that's where training and preparation come in."

He encourages the public to call law enforcement if they suspect that anyone in their lives might commit an act of violence. He says that's the only way to prevent incidents like this, and he says today's mitigation response went "flawlessly".

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard is speaking now.

He reiterates what he said earlier today, that no children or staff were hurt and that one security guard was taken to the hospital after being struck by the vehicle used by the suspect.

He also says 30 police officers were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation as the building was "engulfed" in flames.

Since the incident, he says he has been calling houses of worship in the area.

"This community works together and takes care of each other," he says.

We're now waiting on the next update from the Oakland County Sheriff, who is set to give another news conference on the Temple Israel incident.

We will bring you any information we learn from him here.

Henry Ford Health Center, a hospital in West Bloomfield, says it and two other hospitals are treating eight first responders from this afternoon's attack at Temple Israel.

Police have said a security guard who was hit by the vehicle was in hospital but was expected to recover.

"Our hearts go out to the community at Temple Israel and anyone who is impacted by this this frightening event. There is absolutely no place for violence in our community," the hospital says.

Image source, EPA

Temple Israel confirms that all students and personnel are safe, in a statement posted online - the synagogue's first public communication since the attack.

"All 140 students in our Susan and Harold Loss Early Childhood Center, our amazing staff, our courageous teachers, and our heroic security personnel are all accounted for and safe," the statement says.

It continues: "As you have no doubt heard, Temple Israel was the victim of a terrorist gunman who was confronted and neutralized by our security personnel who are truly heroes. Our teachers followed their training and kept the children safe and calm."

Authorities have not yet confirmed anything about today's suspect - including any potential motivations or the presence of any weapons.

Temple Israel's statement praises its security staff, local law enforcement, and a nearby country club who "welcomed us, fed us, and sheltered our staff, teachers, children, and parents".

"This note is coming to you before we know anything about our future programming or services, or any investigation. We wanted you to know we are safe, and we love you all," the statement says.

Image source, Reuters

US President Donald Trump has briefly commented on the attack in Michigan while speaking at an unrelated event at the White House.

"We want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all the people in the Detroit area following the attack on the Jewish synagogue," he says, adding that he's been fully briefed on the situation.

The president calls the incident a "terrible thing" and adds, "we're going to get right down to the bottom of it".

"It's absolutely incredible that things like this happen," he says.

Officials in New York City and Los Angeles say they are bulking up police presence around Jewish synagogues, schools and cultural centres after the incident in Michigan.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the apparent attack "horrifying" and an "act of antisemitic violence".

"Out of an abundance of caution, the NYPD will continue to deploy high-visibility patrols to Jewish religious and cultural institutions across the five boroughs," he wrote on X.

Police in both Washington DC and Los Angeles shared similar messages, saying that there are no known threats to their cities at this time, but that security will increase out of an abundance of caution.

"The Department has increased visible patrols around houses of worship and associated schools, as well as cultural centers across the City," the LAPD said in a statement.

Image source, Getty Images

Jewish communities all over the US have been on "high alert", says Oren Segal, a senior vice president at the Anti-Defamation League, an organisation dedicated to combating antisemitism.

"This is not something that just happened today in terms of law enforcement being on high alert," Segal tells CNN.

There has been an increased police presence around Jewish institutions for some time now, he said, and it increased around the start of the US and Israel's war with Iran.

While he acknowledges that he doesn't know what caused the attack, he says antisemitism is rising after the war started.

"Many in the Jewish community are thinking: is this connected to the conflict overseas?" he said.

Madeline Halpert
US Reporter

Lisa Stern, a member of the temple, went to the congregation this afternoon after she heard the news about the vehicle ramming.

A member of the temple for over 20 years, she has several friends who were working inside the building today, including rabbis and a social worker. But she chose not to text them to see if they were alright, worried that the pinging of their phones could be dangerous in the event of a shooting.

Waiting across the street, Stern says she saw anxious parents and grandparents arriving to make sure their children at the preschool were safe. The students were quickly evacuated and no one was harmed, police said.

"At first, when they didn't know, the parents were like falling to the ground," she says. "Thankfully it was minutes until they said the kids were safe."

Stern says it seems like the suspect had knowledge about the temple, which she says is set far back and not visible from the road.

"They obviously knew where they were going because they knew where to do maximum damage," she says.

Image source, Jeff Kowalsky/ AFP via Getty Images

This photo shows the police response to the incident at the Michigan synagogue.

The white truck in the centre of the image is the sheriff's local command centre, and the black truck to the left of frame is the police command centre.

Yellow school buses are surrounded by police vehicles.

You can also see several officers wearing tactical gear and holding rifles.