Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalised US citizen born in Lebanon, was fatally shot by security personnel after ramming his truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield township near Detroit, and driving through a hallway, authorities said.
The vehicle caught fire after crashing into the building.
Ghazali came to the US in 2011 on an immigrant visa as the spouse of an American citizen and was granted citizenship in 2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Ghazali had been traumatised when an Israeli airstrike on his family's village in Lebanon about 10 days ago killed two of his brothers and two of their children, CBS News reported as law enforcement investigated Ghazali's motive.
Jennifer Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field office, called the incident in West Bloomfield deeply disturbing and tragic and said the FBI is leading the investigation.
The agency considers the crime a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community", she said at a news conference on Thursday, local time.
None of the synagogue's staff or the 140 children at its early childhood centre were injured, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said.
In the minutes after the attack, smoke billowed from the synagogue.
One security officer was hit by the vehicle and knocked unconscious but did not suffer life-threatening injuries, the sheriff said. And 30 law enforcement officers were treated for smoke inhalation.
West Bloomfield Police Chief Dale Young said Temple security officers "engaged the individual and neutralised the threat".
The suspect was found dead inside his vehicle, Bouchard said.
Cassi Cohen, director of strategic development at Temple Israel, was standing at the hallway where the crash happened.
She said she heard a loud bang, grabbed a few staff members, ran into her office and locked the door.
"When I heard the crash, I knew it was bad," Cohen said.
She said a classroom was near where the car rammed the synagogue and, in addition to the children, there were also more than 30 staff members in the synagogue.
"Thankfully, we have had many active shooter drills and our staff is prepared for these situations," she said. "We do go into lockdown."
The incident comes amid a spike in anti-Semitism in the US over the last two years.
"Anti-Semitism has no place in Michigan and cannot be tolerated," Michigan's attorney general Dana Nessel said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump said he had been briefed on the attack, calling it terrible.
"I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in the Detroit area following the attack on the Jewish synagogue earlier today," he said.
In a post on social media, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar said he was shocked by the attack.
"We are in contact with the Jewish community and local authorities. Anti-Semitism must never be allowed to rear its ugly head."
With AP
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